Funding state police will be an issue —Gov Sule

Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule, has said funding of the proposed state police will be an issue, suggesting it should be discussed at the gestation stage.

He warned that state governors would eventually ask for a review of the sharing formula if the state police initiative saw the light of day.

Only 16 state governors have approved the state police initiative with 20 yet to make their decisions known.

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Governor Sule, who spoke on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, said he grew up in a society where state police were in practice but expressed reservation with the implementation of the initiative in Nigeria.

“We (Nasarawa) are one of the 20 states that are yet to submit a memorandum on State police. It’s not that we are against it, it’s not that we are for it, we are still in consultation.

“My concern about State police is funding. The next thing after we adopt this State police is that we will hear the state governors asking for the review of the sharing formula. What we are getting right now may not be sustainable,” he said.

Why there was stampede at Nasarawa Varsity

Meanwhile, the governor has regretted the deaths of two students at the Nasarawa State University during a palliative distribution stampede in the school.

The governor said the sad incident was not as a result of negligence or poor planning on the part of the government.

“It’s not something that happened on the part of negligence by government,” Sule faulted a claim by human rights activist Femi Falana who blamed the deaths of the two students on “official negligence”.

The governor had reportedly ordered the distribution of two 7.5 kg bags of rice and N5,000 to each student of the state university in Keffi, the state capital.

Two students — Grace Danladi and Rose Micheal — died in last Friday’s unfortunate incident, while others were injured during the stampede ahead of the distribution of palliatives to students of the school.

Falana subsequently said the distribution exercise was not well-organised, hence the avoidable tragedy, and demanded compensation for the families of the victims.

However, Sule said, “It’s very unfortunate that it happened but it had nothing to do with any planning, it has nothing to do with any negligence. We have been to eight places. It was the last place, which would have been the ninth institution that we went to. So, all these other places that we went, everything went so smooth.”

According to him, the stampede was not because of planning but some students thought that their names were being replaced by the Students’ Union Government of the institution, hence, the anxiety.