NIPSS advocates for State Police

Issues being brought to the fore by these events on the Jos plateau include the need to deal with the overcentralization in government structure in Nigeria. A particularly touchy issue was the need to create state police so that state government would have full power to deploy them to quell riots more rapidly. There was a heated exchange on the subject between the Federal Government Panel investigating the 2008 mayhem and members of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru. The spokesperson for the Institute, Dr. Mark Maduagwu, refused to be intimidated as he insisted: "the general consensus here in the National Institute is that the possibility of having a state police should be seriously considered in Nigeria. That is the general consensus. There are of course two sides to a coin. Could you believe that the advantages of having a state police may, in the long run, outweigh the disadvantages?" (Guardian, Jan 18, 2010)