The Senate Committee on Police Affairs has raised the alarm that the decrease in the budgetary allocations to the Nigerian police in the 2015 budget proposal might threaten the forth coming general elections.
Chairman of the committee, Paulinus Nwagwu, who said this during the budget defence by the Ministry of Police Affairs, also expressed fears that the policemen might resort to strike if their salaries were not paid.
Senator Nwagwu observed that allocation for personnel costs nose-dived from N292bn in 2013 to N279bn in 2014.
He also said the allocation for overheads of the police commands and formations equally dropped from N7.6bn to N5.4bn in the current fiscal year.
Two weeks ago, it was reported that the police threatened to proceed on strike if there is further delay in payment of their salaries. With about four weeks to the general election in which the police is the major provider of security, concerns have been raised on the likely impact on the polity if the welfare of the police is jeopardised.
