�All Govs. now in support of State Police�� – NEC

Gov. Uba Sani, of Kaduna State, has said 36 States of the federation had endorsed the creation of state police, following the submission of their reports to the National Economic Council, (NEC).

The Governor made the disclosure while briefing State House correspondents at the end of 147th NEC meeting, chaired by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, on Thursday, in Abuja.

Sani stated that many States were in agreement with plans to establish state police in view of the fact that virtually every state had security challenges. According to him, there are a lot of ungoverned territories in Nigeria, and a deficit in terms of the number of security officials.

He added the Police, the Army and other relevant security agencies had no personnel to cover all the states and the country as a whole. That is the reason why most of us agreed that establishment of State Police in Nigeria is the way forward, in order to address the problem of insecurity in the country.

�So, today one of the topics of discussion at the NEC meeting is the update on the creation of the State Police. And I can say here that from what is available, virtually most of the states are in agreement with the establishment of state police in Nigeria�, said the Governor.

He, however, said the Council decided to step down the discussion on the State Police until the next NEC meeting in January 2025. �The Council decided to step-down the discussion until the next Council meeting, because we need to come up with a report from the secretariat.

There will be further stakeholder engagement after the panel and deliberation by the members of the NEC�, Uba stated. ?

The NEC had, during its 146 meeting held on Nov. 21, mandated Kwara, Adamawa, Kebbi States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to submit their positions on State Police within one week.

Gov. Douye Diri, of Bayelsa State, had explained that 33 States had submitted their positions, except Adamawa, Kebbi and Kwara States.

The Council had mandated the remaining States and FCT to make their submissions within one week in order to present a consolidated state position on the State Police at Thursday�s NEC meeting.