State Police Plan Making Headway - Presidency

Significant steps are being taken to set up state police in Nigeria. A constitutional amendment is expected soon after months of talks among the Executive, the National Assembly, and security agencies.

The Chief of Staff to the President, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, shared this news on Thursday. He spoke to State House Correspondents after a meeting about state police held at the State House in Abuja.

Gbajabiamila explained that discussions on state police started months ago. This followed a direction from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He noted that the process is moving forward well.

He said establishing state police needs careful thought about constitutional and legal issues. It cannot be rushed. "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."

Gbajabiamila added, "Hopefully, the amendment will come shortly, and the details of the amendment will come after that."

He mentioned that talks have now moved to looking at the needed constitutional changes, with the laws to follow later. "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 said.

The Chief of Staff noted that there is strong national support for the plan. He said the discussion is no longer about whether to have state police but about how to create the right legal and institutional setup for it.

He pointed out that President Tinubu has always pushed for state police. This is part of efforts to strengthen Nigeria's security setup. The President will get a full report on what was discussed in the meeting.

This meeting is part of a series of talks organized by the Federal Government. The aim is to create a solid framework for establishing state police. This initiative is meant to boost internal security, improve local intelligence, and help state governments tackle security problems.

President Tinubu has argued in recent months that state police is needed to respond to Nigeria's changing security issues. He believes that having police at the state level will strengthen security at the grassroots, improve intelligence gathering, and better protect lives and property across Nigeria.

Attendees at the meeting included Deputy President of the Senate, Jibrin Barau, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, and Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, among other senior officials.