IBY
Peterside Rejoice Eneky
The National Assembly witnessed a heated exchange on Thursday when the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, appeared before a joint committee of the Senate and House of Representatives to present the 2025 budget proposal for the Nigeria Police Force.
The session turned contentious during Egbetokun’s presentation, where he provided a detailed breakdown of funds allocated for constructing police headquarters in five zonal commands across the country.
Shortly after the IGP began his address, a member of the House of Representatives, Mark Esset from Akwa Ibom, interrupted.
Esset raised concerns about inconsistencies between the IGP’s presentation and the document distributed to committee members, questioning why lawmakers were given a different version of the report.
Echoing Esset’s concerns, Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi, a principal officer of the Senate, also expressed dissatisfaction. He demanded to receive the same document being read by the IGP, emphasizing the need for transparency and fairness in the proceedings. “We are here to serve Nigerians, and Nigerians should see us as a very serious institution. I, as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, should have what the IGP is reading,” Nwebonyi asserted.
The disagreement escalated when Rep. Abubakar Makki Yalleman, co-chairman of the Police joint committee, overruled Nwebonyi’s request and directed the IGP to continue with his presentation.
This decision further agitated Nwebonyi, who viewed it as a slight against his position. In protest, the senator packed his documents and exited the hearing room, leaving some committee members jeering at his dramatic departure.
Defending the decision to proceed with the presentation, committee member Rep. Yusuf Gagdi explained that parliamentary procedures had been followed.
He criticized Esset and Nwebonyi for interrupting the session without being officially recognized to speak. “It’s completely out of place for lawmakers to interject when they do not have the floor or are not recognized,” Gagdi stated.
Amid the tension, IGP Egbetokun continued his presentation, highlighting the chronic underfunding of the police force. He urged lawmakers to support removing the police from the envelope budgeting system, which limits resource allocation.
The IGP also informed the committee about President Bola Tinubu’s directive to increase the annual police recruitment quota from 10,000 to 30,000, a move he said would significantly boost the force’s efficiency and operational capacity.
Egbetokun appealed to the National Assembly for adequate funding to enable the police to fulfill their mandate, noting that the force has remained overly dependent on budgetary allocations. He reiterated the importance of prioritizing police funding to address the growing challenges of maintaining law and order across the country.
The incident underscored lingering tensions between the executive and legislative branches regarding budgetary processes and transparency, with calls for better collaboration in the interest of national security.
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