Quick Reads
- The National Policing Bill is about 90% ready, according to Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila.
- It will go to the National Assembly within two weeks, after one more steering committee meeting.
- Gbajabiamila says the governors have “one or two observations” to be addressed.
- He sees no reason for states to hesitate on the State Police constitutional amendment, even though only about six have reportedly passed it.
The long-awaited National Policing Bill is close to landing at the National Assembly. The Presidential Working Group on police reform says it will transmit the bill within two weeks.
Chief of Staff to the President and Chairman of the Working Group, Femi Gbajabiamila, announced this on Thursday. He spoke to journalists at the State House in Abuja after a meeting of the group’s steering committee.
“We are 90% ready,” Gbajabiamila said, according to a presidency statement. He explained that the committee will meet once more to “cross the t’s and dot the i’s” so that no area is left uncovered. The governors, he added, have one or two observations to be addressed, and the bill should be ready in about a week or so.
The statement was signed by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy. In it, Gbajabiamila described the National Policing Bill as the most consequential Bill of the Tinubu administration so far. He said it has gone through intense work since the steering committee began deliberations on August 3.
The announcement comes amid a push to give states a bigger role in policing. Asked whether states might delay the Sixth Constitution Alteration Bill on State Police, Gbajabiamila said Nigerians widely agree on the need for the change. It was put to him that only about six of the 36 states and the FCT have so far passed the amendment. He replied that he sees no reason for anyone to have a rethink.
The meeting was attended by Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, who chairs the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, as well as Governors Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State and Uba Sani of Kaduna State. Inspector-General of Police Tunji Disu was also present. The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice was represented by the Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Beatrice Jedy-Agba.
Other committee members include Justice Abdullahi Liman (retd.), who chairs the Policy Advisory Committee, and Olu Ogunsakin, Head of the Nigeria Police Reform Secretariat. Lanre Smart, Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), also sits on it. So do Nnadubem Moghalu, who serves as committee secretary, a representative of the Nigerian Bar Association president, and AIG Abraham Thomas, representing the National Security Adviser.
The National Policing Bill process began months ago. President Bola Tinubu inaugurated the policing bill panel in July. Gbajabiamila later urged stronger collaboration as the initial public submission window closed in August. Nigerians will now watch closely to see whether lawmakers move as fast as the executive says it will.
