The decisions of the remaining 20 state governors on the proposed establishment of state police are expected to be submitted within the next four weeks.
This is according to the Director-General of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Asishana Okauru, who spoke on Friday.
Sixteen state governors had earlier thrown their weight behind the establishment of state police as a panacea for the insecurity ravaging the different parts of the country.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice-President on Media and Communication, Stanley Nwkocha, had earlier disclosed in a statement that discussions were held at a meeting of the National Economic Council and that 16 out of the 36 states had already submitted their reports on the state policing initiative.
The NEC received the reports from the 16 governors at its 140th meeting held at the Aso Rock Villa on March 21, 2024.
Nwkocha said there was an expectation that the remaining 20 governors, whose identities were not disclosed, would also submit their reports, stressing that all the states across the country expressed their support for the establishment of state police.
Okauru explained in a telephone conversation with one of our correspondents that the governors were unanimous in their support of the state police.
He added that the remaining 20 governors were already in the process of submitting their reports, and would turn them in a few weeks from now.
According to him, it became clear after the NGF’s last meeting that there was a need for the governors to speed up “whatever report they were putting together in respect of state police and submit it.”
He said, “The official position of the forum is in favour of state police. I don’t know of any state that is not in support of state police. I can tell you that I don’t know of any state not in support of the idea. That the governors have not submitted their reports for now is not saying they are not in support of it (state police).
“They are in the process of submitting their reports and I can tell you that in the next couple of weeks that would have been resolved. This is the only way to go. The forum has come a long way. So, there’s a very strong consensus in support of state police.”
