Shettima, Jonathan to speak on state police at national dialogue

Vice President Kashim Shettima will speak on state police at a national dialogue organised by the house of representatives on Monday in Abuja. 

Musa Krishi, special adviser on media and publicity to Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house of representatives, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.

In January, Abbas announced plans to hold a national conference on security.

The speaker said the summit will propose far-reaching recommendations and concrete areas for legislative intervention.

On February 15, the federal government set up a committee to explore the creation of state police, amid the spate of insecurity in the country. Days later, the house passed the bill for second reading.

Sponsored by Benjamin Kalu, deputy speaker of the house, and 14 others, the bill proposes to transfer the term “police” in the 1999 constitution from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent list.

Krishi said top government officials, the international community, as well as traditional and religious leaders, among other relevant stakeholders will discuss the proposed decentralisation of the current unitary national police force at the summit.

Abbas is set to deliver the keynote address, while special remarks are to be made by Abdulsalami Abubakar, former head of state, and Goodluck Jonathan, former president.

Other speakers at the event include Richard Montgomery, British high commissioner to Nigeria; Annette Gunter, German ambassador to Nigeria; Elsie Attafuah, country representative, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); and Clement Nwankwo of the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC).

Others are George Akume, secretary to the government of the Federation (SGF); Femi Gbajabiamila, chief of staff to the president; Godswill Akpabio, senate president; Christopher Musa, chief of defence staff; Ibrahim Geidam, minister of police affairs; Kayode Egbetokun, inspector general of police (IGP); and Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, governor of Kwara and chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).

The dialogue will hold at the Abuja Continental Hotel and has ‘Pathways to peace: Reimagining policing in Nigeria’ as its theme.