The Inspector General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, has described the 4.5 billion Naira overhead budget of the Nigeria Police Force as ‘grossly inadequate’.
This is part of the police chief’s presentation before the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs on Wednesday, as he defends the 2016 budget allocation to the force.
The Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau and officials of the Nigeria Police Force were before the Committee on Police Affairs.
Mr Dambazau started with a brief address on a special intervention fund for police formations and commands.
“In this situation we have with the northeast and also other hot spot areas of insecurity. This is why this fund is domiciled within the ministry. It is a special intervention to the police,” he said.
It is a position lawmakers were not comfortable with.
“Grossly Inadequate”
In his presentation, the police boss said more funds should be allocated to the police.
“Because we dismantled the roadblocks, to keep safe the highways, we will have an approximate of 600 vehicles on the road and those vehicles have to be fuelled. The policemen who man those vehicles are entitled to pure water or even one Gala, during the tour of their 12 hours duty.
“If you put all these together the 4.5 billion is grossly inadequate. And if we are fighting corruption the way we are doing now, we should be able to remove those things that would be attractive to our men to engage in unprofessional conduct,” the police boss told the lawmakers.
Appearing before the House Committee on Army, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, also appealed for more funds for the army.
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission also appeared before a committee in charge of the electoral body’s allocation review, where Professor Mahmood Yacoob, said he had seen the need for a supplementary budget for the commission.
The Committee said it would give the commission all the support it needed in order to start preparation for the 2019 elections well ahead of time.
Even though issues have been raised over the 2016 budget proposal and when it may eventually be passed by the National Assembly, committees are still meeting with Ministries, Departments and Agencies on the document.
