National Assembly approves N74bn for Police Trust Fund

THE sum of N74billion has been approved as the 2021 budget for the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF).

The National Assembly gave the approval to enable the Fund to fully take off and finance its operations.

Executive Secretary of NPTF, Ahmad Sokoto, made the disclosure on Wednesday, May 18, in Abuja after a closed-door meeting with the National Assembly Joint Committee on Police Affairs.

The approval follows the recent action of the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkhali Baba, who had earlier lamented the state of infrastructure and deplorable state of police barracks across the country, which he said required urgent attention.

Sokoto also pointed out that the N74 billion budget captured all the demands of the fund which included training and retraining of personnel of the Force.

He said that the budget would ensure procurement of state-of-the-art equipment for the police, assuring that the equipment would be the latest and; excellent for the enhancement of skills of the police personnel.

The NPTF boss said, “I am assuring you that the Police Trust Fund will leave no stone unturned in carrying out our assigned responsibilities for better policing of Nigeria.”

Recall that the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (Establishment) Bill (Police Trust Fund Act or ‘the Act) was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on June 24, 2019.

The Bill establishes the Nigeria Police Trust Fund to provide resources for the training and welfare of personnel of the Force and for the provision of state-of-the-art security equipment.

According to the details of the Bill, the Trust Fund would consist of proceeds from a levy of 0.005% of the net profit of companies operating businesses in Nigeria, amongst other sources.