You Can’t Pay N30,000 Minimum Wage But Clamouring for State Police, Falana Slams Governors
Human rights lawyer, Femi
Falana, SAN, has berated state governors demanding State Police but cannot
pay the minimum wage of N30,000
to workers.
Falana, who spoke while at the maiden
edition of the Yinka Odumakin Inter-
faculty Debate and Public Lecture held
by the Student Union of the Obafemi
Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State,
warned the President Bola Tinubu-led
Federal Government not to allow
State Governments that are currently
struggling to pay N30,000 minimum
wage to their workers to create state
police.
He argued that the creation of
state police is not the lasting solution
to the security problems in Nigeria, adding that the “governments should acquire the vital security equipment to track kidnappers, terrorists and the so-called unknown gunmen.”
According to him, “Nigerians should
not be deceived into believing that the
establishment of state police is the
panacea to insecurity in the country.
“A state police that is not well
equipped and adequately funded can
never confront and contain insecurity.
State governments that cannot pay the
national minimum wage of N30,000
per month should discard the idea of
setting up state police.
“We must avoid a situation whereby
members of a state police service are
owed salaries and allowances for
several months. Therefore, the salaries
and allowances of all security officials
should be deducted from source and
paid to them directly.”
“We must also realise that a well-
equipped and well-funded police service
cannot address the crisis of insecurity
if mass unemployment of youths is
not addressed.”
Falana equally berated the lack of political willingness of State Governments in the country to improve basic education.
“I was a member of the Alliance
of Progressive Students (ALPS), a student socialist group. Yinka was also a member of the ALPS. I was the Public Relations Officer of the student union during the 1979/80 academic session”, he declared.
