It's Premature To Talk About State Police In Nigeria - Mohammed Abubakar

The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar has restated his position that Nigeria is not yet ready to establish state police.

The Inspector-General, who marked two years in office as the at the weekend, said it in an exclusive interview published in the latest edition of Chief Detective magazine.

Abubakar says he does not reject the idea to have state police in Nigeria, but the right time has not come yet.

He cited examples of the US and European countries which have existed as independent states for centuries, and this makes them mature enough to establish decentralized police.

Nigeria, on the contrary,has just marked 53 independence anniversary and still has a range of fundamental problems to cope with.

"Do they [US and European states] have the challenges we have? Do they have the issue of where are you come from? Do they have the religious crisis that we have? Do they have the level of tribal differences in the states? Do they have such challenges? So, these are issues that should be put into consideration. "Do they have the same political issues that we have, the same political problems; that you want to contest as president but because you’re not from the North, you cannot contest?" Abubakar asked rhetorically.

To recall, in October 2012, when the Senate had begun a public hearing on the review of the 1999 Constitution, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar said called to establish state police in Nigeria, which would "guarantee security of lives and property and create an enabling environment for our different people to develop at their own pace."

Abubakar, however, opposed this idea saying that the county was still "politically immature" for this.