The Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, will serve as the chair of the about 45-member constitution review committee on the 1999 constitution, which was announced by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Six legislators from each geopolitical zone as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, will also be on the committee.
The committee will specifically examine rules pertaining to state police and artificial intelligence, among other areas. and is scheduled to be inaugurated on Tuesday of next week.
Quest For State Police
There have been clamour for state police as Nigeria grapples with worsening security challenges such as kidnapping and banditry.
Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had on Monday, restated their position on state policing, as the solution to the country’s worsening security situation, lamenting that Nigeria is “almost on the road to Venezuela”.
Also, regional socio-political groups such as Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Middle Belt Forum, and the Northern Elders’ Forum, have repeatedly called for state police as solution the myriad of increasing security challenges confronting the nation.
Already, states in the South-West geopolitical zone have formed the Amotekun while their counterparts in the South-East also created state-owned security outfit Ebube Agu. The Benue Guards has also been operational in Benue State in the North Central while states like Katsina, Zamfara and other bandit-prone sub-nationals have also come up with similar state-established outfits.
However, these outfits have not been effective as anticipated as they don’t have the backing of the Federal Government or the Presidency while states continue to demand that Amotekun, Ebube Agu and others are granted license to bear assault rifles like AK-47 to confront lethal gun-toting marauders.