The National Policing Bill is 90 per cent ready for transmission to the National Assembly and is expected to be forwarded within two weeks, says Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu.
Gbajabiamila, who chairs the Presidential Working Group on State Police, disclosed this on Thursday while speaking with journalists after the group’s steering committee meeting at the State House, Abuja.
He said the committee would hold one more meeting to address outstanding issues and incorporate observations from state governors before transmitting the bill to the National Assembly.
“The National Policing Bill is more or less ready for transmission to the National Assembly. We will probably have one more meeting after this to cross the t’s and dot the i’s and make sure every area is covered. So, we are 90 per cent ready.
“The governors have one or two observations, and we should be ready in about a week or so,” he said.
Gbajabiamila described the proposed legislation as “the most consequential Bill of the administration so far,” noting that it had undergone rigorous deliberations since the working group’s steering committee commenced discussions on August 3.
He also expressed confidence that the proposed constitutional amendments to establish state police would receive the necessary support, despite concerns over the pace of ratification by state Houses of Assembly.
Reacting to reports that only about six states had passed the Sixth Constitution Alteration Bill on state police, out of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Gbajabiamila said there was broad national support for the reform.
“I see no reason why anyone will want to have a rethink on it,” he said.
The proposed state police framework is part of ongoing efforts to reform Nigeria’s policing system and strengthen security arrangements across the country.
Those at Thursday’s meeting included the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq; Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State; Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State; Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu; and the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, represented by the Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Beatrice Jedy-Agba.
Other participants were the Chairman of the Policy Advisory Committee, retired Justice Abdullahi Liman; Head of the Nigeria Police Reform Secretariat, Professor Olu Ogunsakin; Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), Lanre Smart; and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Planning and Research and secretary of the committee, Nnadubem Moghalu.
Representatives of the Nigerian Bar Association and the National Security Adviser, including AIG Abraham Nabhon Thomas, also attended the meeting. Authority.
