The push for the establishment of state police in Nigeria has received a major boost from the Gombe State governor, Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya, and Chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum.
Yahaya, in an interview with State House Correspondents in Abuja on Tuesday after meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, threw his weight behind the call for state police.
“Personally, and I believe the whole of the people of Gombe State are behind the idea of having state police because that will take security closer to the people, and we will be able to monitor more than somebody else monitoring or managing our own security,” the governor said.
The Governor also expressed confidence that the proposed legislation for state police would easily pass through the National Assembly and gain the required two-third approval from state assemblies across Nigeria.
He also pointed out that states are already inadvertently managing security through their own security outfits supporting federal agencies.
He however noted that with state police, governors would have direct command and control over security operations within their respective states.
“Even though it is said that the governors are the Chief Security Officers, the men on the ground commanding the security agencies, that is, the General Officers Commanding (GOC) or the Commissioner of Police, are answerable to their commanders here in Abuja.
“But with state Police, we will be able to monitor the pulse and implement any decision hastily, and there will be results,” he explained.
The governor stressed his full conviction in the creation of state police, believing that many other states in Nigeria would support the move.
The governor also revealed that the state government is taking the necessary steps towards boosting electricity supply to its people, adding that governors of states in the North-East zone are doing the same thing.
“Transmission and whatever electricity, has been on the Exclusive List before now but with the new electricity Act, it means that states can now do from generation to transmission and marketing.
“Even at the last meeting of the North-East Governors, we resolved that each of us should generate 10 Megawatts of solar power so that we kick-start activities, and all the governors are amiable to working with the new electricity Act, knowing that so far, one leg has not been able to deliver us. Whatever we had before was not able to take us out of this situation,” the Governor added.
He assured that there is a better approach now, and the governors hope to overcome the persistent problem.
On Education, the Governor said governors in the Northern part of the country are poised to give education to children in the zone, pledging that the problem of out-of-school children would be a thing of the past.
“That issue was top on the agenda of our last meeting because it is a very big menace that we are unfortunately contending with, but mind you, it is a build-up of the past; over 50 years or so of neglect of the educational system.
“We are trying to see that this time around, with the window we’ve gotten, especially with basic education as service delivery for all, the states are up and doing and we shall enroll the people and retain them so that they will continue from primary to secondary and even tertiary level. That is a herculean task, and all the governors are doing their best and we shall continue to do so,” he assured.
On his stewardship for Gombe State, the Governor said he counted the cost of governance before he assumed leadership of the State.
“I didn’t go into the contest blind-folded. I went into the contest with an agenda, a clear vision and mission to see that I accomplish what I want to achieve in Gombe.
“These are the things I have been trying to achieve over the last five years across every sector; health, education, infrastructure, social development and economic investment drive. We have achieved a lot in all those respects and I am very proud of what we did in the last five years,” the Governor stated.
He assured the people of Gombe that his team will work hard to achieve all that he has earmarked to do for the state in the remaining three years he has as governor.
