Two retired police officers and a senator Wednesday rejected the calls in some quarters for the scrap of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund established in 2020 to cater for the funding gap in the Nigeria Police Force.
A Federal High Court in Abuja had last month, while delivering judgment in a suit filed by the Rivers State Government challenging the deductions from the Federation Account, Justice Ahmed Mohammed, held that Sections 161 and 162 of the 1999 Constitution were breached by the Federal Government in making direct allocations to the NPTF from the Federation Account.
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A retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Austin Iwar and a former Commissioner of Police in the Federal Capital Territory, Lawrence Alobi, in separate interviews with Daily Trust, yesterday faulted “the plans by some people to scuttle the laudable initiative”.
Alobi said: “I was one of those who fronted for that Police Trust Fund to be established. I was one of those who presented letters during the public hearing at the National Assembly.
“The Trust Fund was to be an intervention fund for the police because funding has been a challenge, unfortunately, it has been hijacked by the politicians, and it has made it ineffective, therefore, the purpose for establishing it cannot be achieved.
“But for those calling for its scrap, what is the alternative? When you say change a system, you must ask what the alternative is, this is not how to solve a problem, scrapping it is not the alternative.
“The Fund is a necessity for now because over the years, the police have suffered poor funding, and that has impacted negatively on the economy of the police force in terms of equipment, in terms of training, in terms of welfare, in terms of infrastructural development among others.
“If that trust fund is scrapped, a few percent of the private organisations will be contributing part of their profits to assist the police, to fund the police.
On the argument that the source of income for the fund should not be from Federation Account, Alobi noted that the Force is serving all the 36 states and 774 local government areas in the country.
On his part, Iwar said it would be unwise to dismantle what Nigeria spent many years on before it was established.
“How can you say you want to scrap a strategic plan established by law to help develop the police, to help provide the facilities? Anybody saying that hates the police! They are doing a lot for the police,” he said.”
Senator Gershom Bassey (Cross River) said the NPTF should not be scrapped, but be boosted through contributions by all Nigerians to better equip officers “who are often outgunned by bandits and terrorists due to lack of sophisticated weapons.
A statement from the Press and Public Affairs of the NPTF said the agency NPTF had procured 200 units of operational vehicles, 1,300 pieces of ballistic helmets and bulletproof vests from the Defense Industry Corporation of Nigeria in compliance with presidential Executive order of patronizing locally-made products.
“This year, attention will be focused mainly on infrastructure where new barracks, police stations, and training institutions will be built, while the dilapidated structures will be given a facelift,” it stated.
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