The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) has announced a seven-week roadmap for the proposed National Policing Bill aimed at the effective take-off of state police.
Towards this end, the Presidential Working Group on the proposed Bill has invited Nigerians to submit memoranda and policy proposals as part of efforts to establish a comprehensive legal and operational framework for state policing.
Chief of Staff to the President and Chairman of the Working Group, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, announced this on Monday after the Working Group’s meeting at the State House, Abuja.
FGN preparing the road for state policing
The Working Group, it was stated, was reviewing the Police Act 2020, the Police Service Commission framework, police regulations, and other relevant laws to support the development of an effective, modern policing system.
“The proposed framework will set national minimum standards, define state readiness and grant certification, clarify jurisdictional responsibilities, ensure independent oversight, uphold human rights, and guarantee sustainable funding.
“It would also spell out an orderly transition to a dual-policing structure,” Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser (Information and Strategy) to the President, stated this in a State House press release, Monday evening.
It was added that the call for memoranda will run for two weeks to allow citizens, professionals, civil society, security agencies, state and local governments, academics, and other stakeholders to contribute. Submissions will be reviewed and integrated into the draft bill, which will then be subject to further national consultation before being finalised and sent to the National Assembly.
“The Working Group has adopted a seven-week work programme running from 27 July to 14 September, 2026.
“The draft Executive Bill is scheduled for presentation to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on 3 September, 2026, with national consultations to follow before the final approval.
“The new National Policing Bill will set out requirements for recruitment, training, oversight, funding, and transition arrangements to ensure credible, effective, and accountable policing nationwide,” it was added.
According to Gbajabiamila, “A proposed State Police Service must demonstrate that it has credible arrangements for recruitment, vetting, training, pay, pensions, equipment, custody, complaints, discipline, data, firearms control, independent oversight and financial sustainability before it begins policing.”
The representative of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, described State Police as a landmark reform, adding that the initiative was one of the defining reforms of the President Tinubu administration.
Responding to concerns about federal overreach, he clarified that there was no Federal attempt to control State Police.
He added that the proposed legislation is intended to provide an operational framework rather than centralise control.
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, stated that the proposed National Policing Bill was designed to guarantee the security of lives and property, while ensuring that the establishment of state police does not become a tool for political persecution.
He added that states not immediately ready to establish their own police services would continue to benefit from the presence of the Federal Police until they meet the required standards.
Other participants at the meeting included the Inspector General of Police, Tunji Disu; President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Afam Osigwe; Chairman, Policy Advisory Committee, Justice Abdullahi Liman (rtd);
Professor Olu Ogunsakin, Head, Nigeria Police Reform Secretariat; Senior Special Assistant to the President on Planning and Research, Nnadubem Moghalu; and Brigadier General Olutayo Muyiwa Adesuyi, representing the National Security Adviser.
Recall that there has been an increasing agitation for the establishment of state policing in the wake of the rising wave of insecurity across the country.
Those who were in support of the decentralisation of the Nigerian police system were of the view that policing at the state level would bring law enforcement close to the people.
However, there were those who strongly held that decentralisation would merely turn the police into an instrument of political intimidation and persecution in the hands of the state governors.
