A former Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund, Fola Arthur-Worrey, has said that expecting the Federal Government to allocate N560 billion annually as police budget was a mirage.
Arthur-Worrey spoke on Thursday during a stakeholders’ roundtable in Lagos on Police Budget, organised by the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre and the Nigerian Policing Programme.
While presenting a paper on: “NPF Financing and Resource Allocation,” Arthur-Worrey said the country should begin to tinker with the idea of sourcing funding for police from sources other than government.
Reeling out other sources of funding for the police, he said government should begin to look at cutting costs in several areas and saving.
Arthur-Worrey also suggested that policemen travelling for trainings, which gulp so much, should be checked.
Rather, he said the foreign teachers and lecturers should be brought to Nigeria.
He argued that it was only when police and government cut down on unnecessary agencies and spending and save money that many issues concerning the police would begin to work out positively.
Stating that there were too many agencies in Nigeria duplicating police work, Arthur-Worrey suggested that such agencies should be scrapped.
According to him, Nigerians must also begin to hold their leaders accountable for spending too much on themselves.
He said: “The National Assembly votes for itself than the police, yet Nigerians are not holding them accountable, something is wrong.
“Let’s not deceive ourselves, there is no way anyone is going to allow such estimated billions for police.”
According to Arthur-Worrey, many nations are jettisoning crude oil and now seeking alternative fuelling system.
This, he said, would impact negatively on the Nigerian economy.
Arthur-Worrey added that with time, no country would reckon with crude oil.
This means that there wouldn’t be any money coming in from oil.
He said: “Many countries are depending on electrification to power almost everything, including cars.
“When this happens, Nigerians would no longer make money from oil.
“Where then is police funding going to come from?
“First principle of funding police is that we should not rely on other people’s money.
“We need to start looking at the structure of the police and other agencies should not replicate police work.
“We can also fund the police through lottery.
“There should be review of sharing national revenue to address security.
“If the police funds are well managed, it will affect the economy.”
Arthur-Worrey and stakeholders in the security sector also urged government and the police authorities to seek the input of different police commands, units and departments before preparing the Force’s annual budget.
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