The Federal Government has moved closer to establishing state police, with the Presidency revealing that a constitutional amendment to create the new policing structure could be introduced soon following months of consultations involving the Executive, the National Assembly and key security agencies.
Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, disclosed this after a high-level consultative meeting on state police held at the State House in Abuja.
According to Gbajabiamila, discussions on the proposed framework began several months ago on the directive of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and have since made significant progress.
In a statement issued by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the Chief of Staff said the process involved extensive constitutional and legal considerations.
“We started deliberations in the last three or four months on how to go about the establishment of state police as directed by Mr President.
“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.
“Hopefully, the amendment will come shortly, and the details of the amendment will come after that,” he said.
Gbajabiamila explained that deliberations have now advanced to the stage of considering the constitutional amendments required to pave the way for state police, with enabling legislation expected to follow.
“Right now, what we are looking at is the constitutional amendment itself, and then the enabling law would follow thereafter. That is what we have been deliberating on in the last couple of hours,” he added.
He noted that there is now widespread agreement across the country on the need for state police, stressing that the focus has shifted from debating its necessity to developing an effective legal and institutional framework for implementation.
The Chief of Staff said a comprehensive report on the outcome of the consultations would be submitted to President Tinubu, who has consistently advocated decentralised policing as part of efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture.
The meeting forms part of ongoing federal consultations aimed at designing a workable state policing framework expected to enhance internal security, improve grassroots intelligence gathering and enable state governments to respond more effectively to emerging security threats.
President Tinubu has repeatedly argued that decentralised policing is essential to addressing Nigeria’s evolving security challenges, maintaining that state police would improve local intelligence capabilities and provide better protection for lives and property.
Among those present at the meeting were Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Benjamin Kalu, Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun and other senior government officials.
