By Dipo Olowookere
Former Commissioner of Police in Lagos and
Benue States, Mr Fatai Owoseni, has disclosed that what an average
police station in Nigeria gets as allocation per quarter for its
operations is not more than N30,000, amounting to N10,000 per month.
Mr
Owoseni, who retired from the police force in December 2018, made this
disclosure in the early hours of Monday, February 25, 2019.
The
retired cop was a guest on Channels Television’s popular election
programme, The Verdict, which was monitored by Business Post.
Speaking
on the pathetic nature of things at the security agency, the former
Commissioner said the poor funding has made it impossible for the police
to perform well like they do when on foreign missions.
“What an
average police station receive as allocation is not more than N30,000
per quarter. How do you want them to perform excellently well?” he asked
on the programme.
“Yes, I was a Commissioner of Police in Lagos
and before then, I was in the Operations at the Force Headquarters and I
know how the funding of the police is.
“Sometimes, the N30,000
allocation for the first quarter of the year may not come until the
third quarter; that is the condition the police operates under.
“Let
me make it clear that this is not a case of the Inspector General of
Police (IGP) embezzling the money, but it is what is allocated to the
police by the government.
“When you take what is budgeted to the
Force to the police stations in the country, what gets to each is just
too small to work with.
“This is making enforcement of law very
difficult in the country. Nigeria is the most difficult place in the
world to enforce any law. I want anybody to challenge me on this.
“When
it comes to investigation and prosecution of cases in this country, the
police spends a lot of time to investigate a case and when it comes to
prosecution, because the law says you must prove beyond reasonable
doubt, your key witness will run away and when your principal witnesses
are not available, there is nothing much a policeman can do,” the former
police chief said.
Source:- Businesspostng
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