State Police Bill to reach National Assembly in two weeks

The Presidency will transmit the National Policing Bill to the National Assembly within two weeks, Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said, according to Gazette.

In a statement on Thursday, presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga said Gbajabiamila spoke to journalists after a steering committee meeting at the State House in Abuja.

“The National Policing Bill is more or less ready for transmission to the National Assembly. We will probably have one more meeting after this to cross the t’s and dot the i’s and make sure every area is covered. So, we are 90% ready.

“The governors have one or two observations, and we should be ready in about a week or so,” Gbajabiamila said.

He described the proposed law as the most consequential bill of the Tinubu administration. He said the working group’s steering committee began deliberations on the reforms on August 3.

Gbajabiamila also expressed confidence that state governments would support the passage of the Sixth Constitution Alteration Bill, which seeks to establish state police. This followed reports that only about six of Nigeria’s 36 states had passed the constitutional amendment, excluding the Federal Capital Territory.

He said there was a national consensus on the need for the amendments. “I see no reason why anyone will want to have a rethink on it,” he said.

The meeting was attended by Nigeria Governors’ Forum chairman and Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani and Inspector-General of Police Tunji Disu.

Representatives of the Attorney-General’s office, the Nigeria Police Reform Secretariat, the National Assembly and the Nigerian Bar Association were also present.