Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State on Tuesday said that the state government was nearly running a state police with the massive funding of the state`s police command.
Speaking at the 6th Lagos Town Hall Meeting in Victoria Island, Fashola said that the state government picked up the burden owing to the inability of the Federal Government to properly fund the force.
He said that the government had spent about N8.7 billion to support the police command in the last five years, saying much of the funds went into vehicles, equipment and other logistics.
The governor wondered why there were oppositions to the idea of state police, saying the state had shown that the model was workable with what it was already doing.
“With the present arrangement, the funding of the police is never the responsibility of state governments rather it is that of the central government.
“The Federal Government runs the police and until they listen and submit by way of constitutional amendment, we won`t still get results.
“What we are already doing in Lagos is state police because we are funding law enforcement agencies with the resources generated by the state.
“And I make bold to say, we have so far provided over 85 per cent of the assets currently in use by the security agencies in the state and these assets can be seen all over the state.
“So, what else? Those who are standing against the idea of state police are only turning the issue upside down,’’ Fashola said. (NAN)
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