May 17, (THEWILL) – Speakers of the 36 Houses of Assembly in Nigeria have endorsed ongoing processes by the National Assembly to amend the 1999 Constitution to allow for the establishment of state police.
The lawmakers, under the aegis of the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria, made their resolution known in a communique issued at the end of their meeting in Abuja on Thursday.
The communique reads in part: “The conference strongly advocates for state policing to check the negative trend of insecurity in our country.
“To achieve this, the conference appeals to the National Assembly, Presidency and other relevant stakeholders to leverage on the ongoing constitution review exercise.
“The Conference of Speakers acknowledged the courage of President Bola Tinubu on his economic policies taken so far such as the removal of petroleum product subsidy and the floating of the exchange rate. However, the unintended consequences of these policies are too harsh on the populace.
“We, therefore, urge the Federal Government and State Governments to initiate sustainable policies with equal measure of courage to ameliorate the sufferings of the people.
“The Conference observed that in spite of the constitutional provisions that grant financial autonomy to the state legislature, the implementation has been observed in breach.
“We, therefore, call on all the relevant stakeholders to comply with all the provisions in the constitution and not by breach.
“The Conference appeals to the relevant political leaders in Rivers State to explore peaceful means to resolve the near impasse situation between the legislative and executive arms of government of the state.”
