A bill seeking to establish the National Assembly police unit will soon be tabled before the senate, Senator Ita Enang has said.
Enang who chairs the senate committee on Rules and Business told senators in plenary on Wednesday that a group of lawmakers including him were already working on the new law.
The lawmaker argued that the practice all over the world is that parliaments have their own security outfit that comprises of well-trained and armed personnel different from the national police.
Senator Enang (PDP, Akwa Ibom), said the congress in America, British parliament in the United kingdom, Indian parliament and even that of Canada all have their police units.
The legislator recalled that some weeks ago, a Canadian parliamentary police officer shot dead a suspected terrorist.
He said they have proposed amendments to the National Assembly Service Commission Act that will elevate the Sergeant-At-Arms to a full security outfit.
The move is coming in the wake of last week’s siege on the National Assembly by police and other security agencies where House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and other lawmakers were teargased.
The police has a division in the parliament with a divisional police officer in charge and a retinue of police officers, same with the Department of State Services which has a director while the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps also has its officers all working in the National Assembly, our correspondent reports.
The heavy presence of the security agencies deeply embedded in the legislature is also complimented by liaising officers.
