Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu has called for the ban on ransom payment, amnesty and negotiation with bandits by government and individuals as a way of resolving the insecurity in the country.
Kalu made the suggestion in his contribution to the debate on the state of insecurity in the country on Tuesday at the National Assembly.
“Mr. Speaker, honourable colleagues, despite strong anti-kidnapping laws like life imprisonment, death penalty for kidnapping, the practice continues because it is alleged that government entities negotiate with bandits and pay ransom.
“That is one of the things that the House must investigate. Security analysts confirm that amnesty deals and peace negotiations delegitimise violence. They embolden armed groups and undermine rule of law.
“Documented pattern across Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto shows stage ceremonies where captives are released and rusty weapons surrendered followed by rapid resolution or resumption of violence.
“What then is the legislative solution on that? The legislative solution required there is to ban unstructured amnesty negotiation and ransom payment by any government entity. Mandate criminal justice enforcement over expediency”, he opined.
The deputy speaker also lamented the poor funding of the police force saying, “Mr. Speaker, the Nigerian police force suffers from the following. Number one, low budgetary allocation with incomplete and late disbursement.
“Number two is unaccounted state government and private donation creating corruption channels. Number three is no transparent auditing mechanism. And this is not starting with this administration.
“It has been there before now. So what is the impact of this? The impact of this is that operational paralysis is observed. Inability to plan effectively is observed and perpetuation of inefficiency is also recorded.
“What then is the legislative solution? Because for every problem there must be a solution. The legislative solution here is to mandate sustained predictable funding. Require rigorous record keeping and audit all Nigerian police force fund including donation”.
Continuing, “The number three is centralised policing model failure. Federal policing model cannot meet diverse localised security needs of 36 states and 774 local governments. Let’s tell ourselves the truth.
“Whether we call it state police, whether we call it community police, whether we call it local government police, the need to decentralise has become very necessary. Some argue for the amendment of section 214 of the constitution and the second schedule. Some say leave it as it is”.
