House of Representatives Fulfils Promise on Community Policing with Enactment of New Legislation

With the rising security challenges in Nigeria, many citizens have continued to demand an overhaul of the country’s security architecture. Some experts have also harped on the need to have a strong police-community relationship as one of the viable tool to address insecurity as the country continue to fight banditry, insurgency and kidnapping across different zones.

In its legislative agenda document for the 2021-2023 legislative year, one of the short term promises of the Gbajabiamila-led House of Representatives is to enact legislation and ensure appropriation of funds in the 2021 and 2022 national budget for community policing. The funds according to the document will be used to implement community policing, civil-military and crime prevention systems.

In 2020, the National Assembly passed the Nigeria Police Force (Establishment) Act 2020 with President Muhammadu Buhari assenting to the bill in September 2020. The will was centred around making the 1943 Colonial Police Act obsolete, a move that was widely commended by civil society organizations in the country.

Promise: Ensure the Enactment of Legislation and Appropriations of Funds in the 2021 and 2022 Budgets to Fund the Implementation of Community Policing, Civil-military Relations and Crime Prevention.

The passage of the bill into law with a provision for the establishment of a Community Policing Committee in its Part XIV was followed by approval of 13.3 billion naira ($35 million) by the president for the take-off of the initiative in October 2021.

In November 2021, another bill that seeks to establish the Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN) was passed into law by the House of Representatives. The VGN through the law was vested with the powers to provide community policing, maintenance of law and order and community service for the citizens. This passage was another move by the Gbajabiamila-led House of Representatives to forestall crime and insecurity in the country.

In the 2022 budget, the Nigerian House of Representatives has also increased funding for the Ministry of Police Affairs to 518 billion naira as part of its efforts to support the Nigerian Police force.

With the passage of significant bills and the approval of funds in 2021 and 2022 for the training of new constables as part of plans for community policing in Nigeria, we rate this Promise Kept.

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