According to a news report from Voice of Nigeria, Senator Saliu Mustapha, representing Kwara Central senatorial district, has called for more extensive consultations on the desirability of introducing state police in Nigeria.

The Senator made this appeal during a distinguished personality lecture series organised by the University of Ilorin's Department of Political Science, in conjunction with the Institute of Legislative Studies. The lecture, titled "Constitutional Amendment and Political Dynamics of State Policing in Nigeria," highlighted the need for thorough discussions to reach a well-informed conclusion on the matter.

Senator Mustapha expressed his willingness to support any group presenting a superior argument regarding the implementation of a state police system in the country. He urged Nigerians to actively engage in discussions on state police as a means to address the various security challenges facing the nation.

In his capacity as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food Production, Mustapha also encouraged other tertiary institutions in Nigeria to follow the University of Ilorin's example by organising public lectures on the critical issue of state policing.

He said that the National Assembly was already on the matter and assured Nigerians that the National Assembly would at the end of the day come up with what is best for the country.

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Professor Wahab Egbewole lauded the gesture of the department of Political Science and Institute of Legislative Studies of the institution for organising the public lecture on Constitutional Amendment on State Policing.

He said that such inter-disciplinary collaboration between the legislative arm of government is apt in view of the importance of legislative arm as a symbol of democracy.

Egbewole said that the idea of state police was good as it would make our communities safe.

Appropriate Legislation

He said that appropriate legislation should be made so as to avoid the challenges being witnessed with the state electoral commission in the country to ensure that it is not created for political witch hunting.

According to him, it is the duty of the legislature to ensure that adequate provisions are made so as to avoid any unwarranted challenge in its implementation and not abused.

He stated that since the advent of fourth Republic, a lot of constitutional amendments have been made but the implementations have been thoroughly challenged.

He stressed that there must be synergy between the arms of government in order to ensure that there is adequate provisions that would guide its implementation.

He appealed to the National Assembly to increase the budget of the nation’s universities in order to assist them to meet the global standards in the academic excellence of the students.