The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, has raised an alarm over the 2023 budget proposal presented by the Police to the National Assembly. Appearing before the Joint Committee on Police Affairs, the police chief said: “The overhead cost estimate as computed under the envelope budgetary system is grossly inadequate to meet the operational, logistics and administrative requirements of the force in the year 2023.” The IGP noted: “as at today, the force has a fleet of 13,935 vehicles and 1,520 motorcycles nationwide. The minimum cost implications for fuelling for the sustenance of minimal patrol operations per year of these patrol assets is N34,099,946,150.00.”

He went on: “Similarly, the monthly minimum maintenance cost for the operations of the fleet of operational vehicles and motorcycles of the force is computed at N8,258,580,000.00.” Considering the proposed budget, the IGP said: “Going by the above computation, the entire sum of N33, 653,116,116.00 that is being projected for all subheads in the overhead cost for police formations and the 36 state commands and the FCT in the 2023 budget is not even enough to provide minimal fuelling and maintenance cost for police operational vehicles/motorcycles for seven months.”

While we acknowledge that the nation is facing paucity of funds, we urge for adequate funding of the police by the executive and legislative arms of the government. To subject police to the so-called envelope budgetary style, renders the force grossly inefficient. Instead, there should be a deliberate effort to deal with the challenges of the force systematically. Perhaps, the example of Lagos State government, which has a well-structured security trust fund, could be helpful.

A better option is to decentralise the police, so the federating units would share in the funding, as practiced in federations across the world. It is strange that though touted as a federal system of government, Nigeria has one unified police authority. Of course, some states have been forced by the inefficiency arising from the poor funding to provide equipment and other resources, to augment the federal police. Such states would commit more funds if the police force is constitutionally decentralised.