The Federal Government on Thursday said it has agreed to a deduction of one percent from the federation account as first line charge to fund operations of the Nigerian police.
The decision followed the submission of report of the committee headed by Peter Obi, governor of Anambra State, to the meeting of the National Economic Council, made up of the 36 state governors and presided over by Vice President Namadi Sambo.
The council was presented with a memorandum on the funding of the Police Reform Programme by Peter Obi, who chaired the Nigeria Reform Police Interim Implementation Committee.
“The committee had recommended the pruning down of the initial overall cost estimate of the reform from N2.8 trillion to N 1.5 trillion, as well as the extension of the reform period from five to six years, to ensure the commitment to the transformation of the NPF for effective security service delivery”.
The committee also recommended a joint funding of the revised cost of N1.5 trillion with 60 percent coming from the three tiers of government, while the organised private sector (OPS) and international development partners to contribute 40 percent.
The council welcomed the proposals and also threw its weight behind the recommendations for a statutory funding of the Police Reform Programme in line with the provisions of the constitution.
This is just as it noted that the funds so deducted would be used exclusively in the states to implement police operational activities.
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After an extensive discussion on the persisting problem of crude oil theft and its negative effect on the revenue from the sector, the council also agreed to take action to check crude oil theft by establishing a committee.
The committee which is to report back to the council at the next meeting has the governors of Delta as chairman, Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Edo and Ondo states, with the ministers of finance, national planning and petroleum as members.
The NEC sub-committee on the negotiations for the 78,701 Direct Data Capture Machines (DDCM) offered for sale to states by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) led by Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State also presented its report to NEC in which it stated that they had reached agreement between it and the electoral body.
The agreement include a 10 percent discount for the new computers and 25 percent for the fairly used ones from the offer price of N35,000 and N20,000, respectively.
They also agreed to six months payment period backed by the issuance of ISPO and that the computers are to be delivered at the state INEC offices.
“The council welcomed the terms of the agreement and advised interested states to take advantage of the offer as a means of promoting computer literacy in secondary schools”.
