The Chief of Staff to Nigeria’s President, Femi Gbajabiamila has revealed the country has made significant progress toward establishing state police, with a constitutional amendment expected soon after months of consultations involving the Presidency, the National Assembly and security agencies.
Speaking after a consultative meeting on state police at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Gbajabiamila said discussions on the proposed policing framework began several months ago following a directive from President Bola Tinubu.
He said the government had made substantial progress but stressed that the creation of state police required extensive constitutional and legal work before implementation.”Establishing state police is not something that you do with the snap of the fingers. There is a lot involved in terms of constitution and legalities, and thank God we have now gained a lot of traction,” he said.
Gbajabiamila said attention is currently focused on the constitutional amendment required to establish state police, while enabling legislation would be developed afterward.
He added that the debate had largely shifted from whether state police should be created to how the legal and institutional framework should be designed to ensure its effectiveness. According to him, President Tinubu, a long-time advocate of state policing, would receive a detailed report on the outcome of the consultations.
The Nigerian government has argued that a decentralised policing structure would strengthen grassroots security, improve intelligence gathering and enhance the protection of lives and property amid Nigeria’s persistent security challenges.
CliqMetro reports that the meeting was attended by Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Benjamin Kalu, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi, Inspector-General of Police Tunji Disu and other senior government officials.