SAN FRANCISCO, February 01, (THEWILL) – The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris has lamented that poor budget allocation for the police force was hampering the fight against violent crimes in the country.
Idris made the disclosure in Abuja on Wednesday when the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs, led by its Chairman, Haliru Dauda Jika, visited the Force headquarters for oversight function.
“The Capital budget is a far cry from the actual requirement to address security challenges especially violent crimes such as terrorism, kidnapping, armed robbery and to ensure the maintenance of law and order,” he said.
“The annual budgetary allocation to the Force especially with regards to capital projects and overhead cost, do not reflect the enormous size, scope of responsibility and basic infrastructural requirements of the Force.
“Arising from the limitations of funding occasioned by the budgetary constraints, most of the requirements that would enable the Force perform are never met.
“For instance, against a capital budget estimate of N331bn proposed for the 2016 fiscal year, the Force was given an envelope of N16.1bn, while in respect of overhead cost, N9.25 was appropriated as against proposal of N90.6bn.
“Allocations to the Force are grossly inadequate despite the increasing security challenges it has to contend with. It will be observed that in 2016, only 25% of the appropriated fund was actually released leaving a whooping sum of N21,080,454,000 not released as at 31stDecember 2016.
“The amount released and cash-backed in September, 2016 is being utilized for the payment of completed and ongoing projects. Out of N16,107,272,000 appropriated for Capital projects, only the sum of N4,026,818,000 (25%) was released and cash-backed by the end of the year 2016.
“The non-release of appropriated capital budget has inhibited the Force from accomplishing its set objective of providing necessary tools and infrastructure for the enhancement of its operational capacity and capability.
“In order to carry out our statutory responsibilities, requisite operational tools and infrastructure are indispensable. Such tools include vehicles, arms and ammunition, aircraft, intelligence and surveillance equipment, bomb disposal and a host of others.”
