By: Tunji Okunlola
President Bola Tinubu has inaugurated a Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill, tasked with preparing the legal framework for implementing state police nationwide, saying a constitutional amendment alone will not be enough to operationalise the system.
The President, represented at the inauguration in Abuja by his Chief of Staff and the Working Group’s Chairman, Femi Gbajabiamila, said the body will produce a technically robust, implementation-ready draft National Policing Bill for transmission to the National Assembly, and will recommend any additional legislation needed to operationalise state police once the constitutional amendment process is concluded.
The inauguration follows the National Assembly’s passage of the Constitution Alteration (State Police) Bill, 2026, which proposes a dual policing structure comprising the Federal Police Service and 36 State Police Services.
“The Constitution Amendment Bill establishes the framework for dual policing, but it does not operationalise it. That work is left to the National Policing Bill,” Tinubu said, explaining that the committee was set up to avoid delays once the constitutional process is completed. “We must not wait until the constitutional process is concluded before beginning this important assignment,” he said.
According to the President, the proposed National Policing Bill will address minimum policing standards, state readiness certification, federal-state coordination, accountability, human rights safeguards and fiscal conditions.
Its members include the National Security Adviser, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, the Chairman of the NGF Committee on State Police, the Inspector-General of Police and the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, with a Secretariat providing administrative support.
Speaking on behalf of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State pledged governors’ support for speedy implementation of the reform, noting that state police would substantially boost security personnel nationwide. “If each state deploys about 6,000 personnel, we will add nearly 200,000 officers to complement the existing federal police,” he said, describing the inauguration as evidence of “the proactiveness of the Executive in preparing for effective implementation.”
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), described the initiative as timely given the country’s security challenges. “There is no denying the fact that we are in a critical moment security-wise, and all hands must be on deck,” he said, urging state governors to ensure speedy ratification of the constitutional amendment by their respective state assemblies.
President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Afam Osigwe, reaffirmed the association’s support for the initiative while stressing the need for adequate legal safeguards to prevent abuse of state police powers.