By Toby TAIWO
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said the Executive arm and the Assembly are ready for the State police bill which is at the harmonisation stage in the National Assembly.
“We are indeed ready like yesterday. The Lagos Assembly is ready for the bill, and we would draw on the experience of retired security chiefs in its operations.”
At the national level, the Senate and House of Representatives are working on harmonizing the different versions of the State Police Bill they recently passed.
While the House of Representatives passed the bill on June 10, the Senate passed the Executive Bill transmitted by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on June 24.
There are differences between the two versions, which lawmakers will reconcile through a joint conference committee of both chambers.
The bill seeks to alter the Constitution and will require the concurrence of at least two-thirds of the 36 state Houses of Assembly before it is presented to the President for assent.
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The Senate version contains 26 clauses, while the House version has 18.
While the House made minimal alterations to Sections 34, 35, 39, 42, 89, 129, 153 and 197 of the Constitution, the Senate amended Sections 84, 89, 121, 124, 129, 157, 158, 160, 197, 201 and 202.
A comparison of the two versions shows that both chambers introduced a new Section 214 to replace the existing provision in the Constitution.
However, the Senate introduced 15 new sub-clauses, compared with the seven introduced by the House.
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Although both chambers amended Section 215, which deals with the appointment of the Inspector-General of Police and the control of the Nigeria Police Force, the Senate retitled the section “Appointment, Command, Direction and Tenure,” while the House titled it “Appointment of Inspector-General of Police and Commissioner of Police of a State.”
Under the section, the Senate introduced 10 new clauses and designated the head of a state police command as “Commander”, while the House introduced five new clauses, naming the head of the state police “Commissioner of Police.”
Similarly, both chambers substituted Section 216, which deals with the delegation of powers to the Inspector-General of Police, with entirely new provisions but adopted different titles.
The Senate titled the section “National Police Standards, Oversight and Accountability”, while the House titled it “Removal of Inspector-General of Police and Commissioner of Police of a State”, replacing the existing constitutional provisions with entirely new ones.
Although both versions contain four sub-sections under Section 216, they assign different functions, which could eventually be separated into two distinct sections during harmonisation.
The Senate version also contains seven transitional provisions for the establishment of state police, while the House version has none. In addition, the Senate made substantial amendments to the Second, Third and Fourth Schedules to the Constitution, while the House amended only the Second and Third Schedules.
House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu and House spokesman Akin Rotimi said the conference committee to harmonise the differences between the two chambers would be constituted after the House resumes on July 7.
Kalu, who described the bill as a product of national consensus, said extensive consultations were held with the Executive and other critical stakeholders before its passage.
