A Civil Society group, Coalition for Security Awareness (CSA) has urged the National Assembly and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami to consider an amendment to the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (PTF) Act. The Coalition made the call in Abuja on Friday, in response to the recent Federal High Court ruling that stopped the 0.5 percent deduction from the Federation Account to the PTF. The NPTF is a creation of the National Assembly through the enactment of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (Establishment) Act, which came into force in 2019.
Key mandates of the NPTF include training, provision of security equipment and related facilities, and enhancing skills of police personnel. Sections 4(1)(a) and 4(1)(b) of the Act had prescribed the deduction of 0.5 percent of the total revenue accruing to the Federation Account to be paid to the PTF to boost the funding of the Nigeria Police. But the Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, had challenged the legality of the deduction at a Federal High Court in Abuja and had prayed the court to stop it.
In its ruling, the court, presided over by Justice Ahmed Mohammed, had declared the deduction illegal, holding that Sections 4(1)(a) and 4(1)(b) of the PTF Act conflicted with Sections 161 and 162 of the 1999 Constitution. With the court’s ruling stopping the 0.5 percent deduction, the federal government has faced the challenge of funding the PTF.
In a statement signed by the National Coordinator of the CSA, Comrade Yakubu Musa, the Coalition said blocking the source of funding has rendered the PTF a lame duck. The CSA also noted that starving the PTF of funds could frustrate the various measures initiated by the federal government to address the worsening internal security challenges in the country.
Musa said: “Already, we are being told that about 80 percent of troops in the Nigerian Armed Forces are currently engaged in internal security operations in many parts of the country. This is a – of the inadequate funding of the police, which accounts for their inability to effectively rise up to the internal security challenges in the country. The Coalition charged AGF Malami to liaise with the leadership of the National Assembly, with a view to reaching a mutual understanding on areas of the Act to be amended.
The National Coordinator of the CSA said the Coalition will mobilise other Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and stakeholders in the security sector, to galvanise the National Assembly into amending the Act without further delay. “It was reliably gathered that prior to the court ruling, the NPTF was in the process of embarking on building new barracks, police stations, training institutions and rehabilitation of dilapidated barracks and other infrastructure,” the Coalition said.