The Federal Government has slashed the budget proposed by the Nigeria Police Force by almost N93bn, a situation which the security outfit has warned may frustrate its efforts towards effectively tackling the growing insecurity in the country.
The police blamed the reduction largely on the envelope budgeting system of the government and urged the National Assembly to exclude the NPF from it.
In a presentation made to the National Assembly, the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, decried the slashing of outfit’s proposed budget by the Budget Office of the Federation from N889,681,595,517.74 to N796,785,034,379.56, warning of its impact on the security outfit and its consequence for the country.
Baba made this known to the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Police Affairs on Tuesday behind closed doors while defending the proposed budget of the NPF in the 2023 Appropriation Bill.
Our correspondent sighted parts of his presentation to the lawmakers on Saturday.
While the police are statutorily in charge of internal security, the Armed Forces are to protect the territorial integrity of the country, against external aggression.
However, several security committees of the National Assembly and Service Chief have on different occasions expressed dissatisfaction that the military was now involved in internal operations in almost all the 36 states of the federation.
For instance, the Chairman of the House Committee on Defense, Babajimi Benson, had after a 2022 budget defence session with the Defence Space Administration, on November 9, 2021, said the Armed Forces were carrying out the duties despite their limited resources.
“In Nigeria, if there is kidnapping or banditry, everyone calls the Armed Forces. Roles that are traditionally assigned to the police, our Armed Forces are the ones embarking on them,” he partly said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces have been allocated over N1.248tn in the budget.
Out of the 18 military and defence organisations allocated the total sum, the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Air Force and the Nigerian Navy will get the largest chunk of the record military budget, with N638,108,156,198, N174,423,669,604 and N158,790,615,183, respectively.