Why FG needs to decentralize Nigerian Police Force – Fagbemi

A legal luminary, Chief Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), has urged the Federal Government and the National Assembly to effect a constitutional change that would allow a decentralised police force to effectively address the insecurity challenges confronting the country.

According to him, the country is in dire need of an upgraded security arrangement because of the recent security breaches by bandits and disgruntled elements in some parts of the country.

Fagbemi stated this while delivering a lecture at the Law Week of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Okitipupa branch, on Saturday.

The theme of the Law Week was “Security as the Bedrock of a Prosperous Nation: Rejigging Nigeria’s Constitutional Federalism.”

Fagbemi said that the primary responsibility of any government was to provide adequate security for its citizenry, adding that it was taken for granted that developmental endeavours would revolve around the security architecture.

He expressed the concern that in spite of the presence of several security agencies, insecurity still prevailed in the country.

The senior advocate also said that in spite of the huge budgetary allocations to defence since 2018, the spate of robbery, kidnapping, ritual killings and insurgencies had refused to abate.