Jonathan Seeks Senate’s Approval Of N79 Billion To Fund Police Reform

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President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday  sought senate approval  for the deduction of 1 % from the statutory allocation of the federal government as contribution for the implementation of the Police Reform programme.

In the letter sent to the Senate by Mr. President titled “Strategy for the implementation of the funding of the Nigeria Police Force Reform Programme read by the Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over plenary, Jonathan said the current escalating security challenges necessitate more than ever before, the strengthening of the police force.

According to Jonathan , the FG had since April 2008 approved the MD Yusuf Report for the reform of the Nigeria Police and subsequently inaugurated the interim implementation committee for police reform programme.

Mr President explained that the reform programme was to be implemented for a period of six years at the estimated cost of N1.5 trillion.

He said 60% funding of the programme was to be sourced from three tiers of government and the organised private sector and counterpart from the international development partners.

“The combined annual contributions from the public sector comprising Federal, State and local governments was estimated to be N150 billion of which N 79.020 billion was to be from the Federal government.

“Notwithstanding  this commitment, the realistic flow of funds has met with setbacks to the effect that the reform implementation has been tardy even as security challenges keep increasing,” the President wrote.

Jonathan further explained that in a decisive move to address the situation, the IICPRP set up a funding technical sub- committee to advise on the effective way to fund the Nigeria Police Reform Programme.