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Government likes idea of state police

    ABIDJAN

    A constitution review committee is to be set up in Nigeria to debate calls by states and local governments for their own police forces, Information Minister Dapo Sarumi said this week.

    Sarumi told reporters after a Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday, that the presidency was inclined to support the idea, `The Guardian' newspaper said.

    The Council resolved that the constitutional status of the federal police would be reviewed in the committee, which is to be formed by the national assembly. Analysts said Nigeria did have some form of local government control of police forces, but these were subject to pressure from local politicians.

    Innocent Chukwuma of the Centre for Law Enforcement Education in Lagos told IRIN that some states now want to have control of state police commands within the federal framework while others, like Lagos and Abia, want forces modelled more along US lines.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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