Tinubu to receive draft state police bill on 3 September - Gbajabiamila says

Nigeria is moving forward with establishing state police forces, a reform considered a "landmark" by some officials. The Presidential Working Group on the proposed National Policing Bill is actively seeking public input to shape the legislation.

Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to the President and head of the Working Group, announced a two-week call for memoranda and policy proposals. This initiative aims to build a comprehensive legal and operational framework for state policing, drawing on existing laws like the Police Act 2020.

The proposed framework will address national minimum standards, state readiness, jurisdictional clarity, oversight, human rights, and sustainable funding. It also outlines a transition to a dual-policing structure. Gbajabiamila emphasized that any state police service must demonstrate robust arrangements for recruitment, training, oversight, and financial sustainability.

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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.

Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, representing the Nigeria Governors' Forum, hailed state police as a key reform of President Tinubu's administration. He assured that the legislation aims to provide an operational framework without centralizing control, countering concerns about federal overreach.

Attorney-General Lateef Fagbemi stated the bill's purpose is to guarantee security while preventing state police from becoming tools for political persecution. He also noted that states not yet ready for their own police services will continue to rely on the Federal Police.

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State Police as a landmark reform and one of the defining reforms of President Tinubu’s administration.