The Speaker of Delta House of Assembly, Mr Dennis Guwor, on Monday, said that Nigeria was due for state policing.
Guwor, while speaking with the News Agency (NAN) in Asaba, said state policing should be because “the locals understand the security situation of their environment”.
He said it was high time all necessary amendments were made to enable the states to develop their policing structure.
Guwor, also the National Treasurer of the Conference of Speakers of State Houses of Assembly in Nigeria, said the conference recently endorsed state policing.
“Recently at the Conference of Speakers, we went for a constitutional amendment committee in Abuja where all these issues were outlined.
“By the grace of God, I think the present National Assembly is very serious in terms of the state policing issues.
“One of the fears people have about state policing is that they think the state governors will arbitrarily control the state police.
“But I think there is no need to fear whether the governors will control the state police against perceived political opponents,” said.
Guwor said Western nations like the United States have both state and federal police with their duties well spelt out.
“So, there would be no clash at any time between the federal police and the state police.
“We have been relating with the National Assembly at the Conference of Speakers level to see how we can support them.
“By the time it is passed, it will come to our own vetting at state houses of assembly, where 24 Houses of Assembly will adopt whatever amendment that was carried out by the National Assembly and pass it.
“So, at the Conference of Speakers, we see how we can rally around ourselves to support the idea of state policing,” he said.
On the recent hike in electricity tariff, Guwor linked it with the increase of items and services as brought about by the high inflation.
He said the policy review was the government’s way of ensuring that the people were best served.
“What I feel is that the Federal Government is increasing the tariff to enable it to meet the expectations of Nigerians,” he said.
He, however, said the state government would ensure that the needful was done to make life easier for the residents. (NAN)
