THE Nigerian Police Force has acknowledged the receipt of a Freedom of Information request by a coalition of anti-corruption and social accountability civil society organisations to provide details of N1billion allocated and disbursed for the supply and installation of police transit camp buildings and rapid response squad, including procurements from 2018 till date.
This statement was made available on Wednesday by the coalition of CSO interested in the police procurement system.
Follow The Money, SERAP, BudgIT and Enough is Enough (EIE) cosigned the letter following the investigation and publication by the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), of an alleged misappropriation of N1 billion allocated for sham police transit camps project in some states in the North.
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In the FoI letter dated 13th of December 2021, the CSOs noted that “having observed that the welfare of the police officers is seemingly grossly underfunded and has become an issue of national concern despite the huge allocations to the security parastatal, it has become expedient to request these details.”
The letter further reads in part; “the Nigerian Police Force receives annual budgetary allocations by the Federal Government of Nigeria and state governments alike to support their operations and welfare which in turn has a significant effect on the state of security of the nation.
“These police camps were intended to be a response to heightened insecurity including the violent invasion of herdsmen in Guma, Benue where over 70 people were killed and crops, farms and houses destroyed,” the FIJ report revealed.
The reputation of the Nigerian Police is sullied already, which makes it more urgent for the Inspector General to respond to the call for accountability by providing the details requested.
This year alone, the National Assembly approved a N74 billion Police budget that captures infrastructure, training and retraining of personnel of the police.
“The security of our nation will continue to deteriorate significantly if the loopholes in our security architecture are not addressed,” Follow The Money Founder, Hamzat Lawal stated.
Despite years of funding, the services of the Nigerian Police Force have been below standard as a result of greed, poor welfare and ill-equipped personnel which has resulted in an alarming increase in corruption within the force.
In line with the Freedom of Information Act, the CSOs have now requested that the Nigerian Police Force provide details of the N1billion allocation within 7 days of receiving the letter.