The Federal Government has made significant progress towards the establishment of state police, with the constitutional amendment framework for the initiative nearing completion, Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said.
Gbajabiamila disclosed this on Thursday while briefing State House Correspondents after a consultative meeting on state police convened by his office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said discussions on the proposed state police framework commenced about four months ago, following a directive by President Bola Tinubu, and had since gained considerable momentum.
According to him, the process involves complex constitutional and legal considerations and cannot be implemented hastily.
“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 wave of the hand or snap on the finger. There is a lot involved in terms of constitution and legalities and thank God now we have gained a lot of traction. Hopefully, the amendment will come shortly and the details of the amendment will come after that,” he said.
The Chief of Staff explained that attention is currently focused on the constitutional amendment required for the establishment of state police, while the enabling legislation would be addressed subsequently.
“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.
Gbajabiamila said there was now broad national consensus on the need for state police, stressing that the issue was no longer whether to establish the system, but how to create the appropriate legal and institutional framework for its operation.
He noted that President Tinubu, who has consistently advocated the creation of state police as part of efforts to strengthen the country’s security architecture, would be briefed on the outcome of the consultations.
“Hopefully, we know that there is a national consensus on the establishment of state police. I don’t think there is any debate on that.
“It is something that the President has wanted and has been talking about for some time since last year and he will be given a full report on this meeting and the outcome of this meeting,” he said.
The meeting formed part of ongoing consultations by the Federal Government aimed at developing a workable framework for state police to enhance internal security, strengthen local intelligence gathering and improve the ability of sub-national governments to tackle emerging security challenges.
President Tinubu has repeatedly argued that state police is a necessary response to Nigeria’s evolving security challenges, maintaining that a decentralised policing structure would improve grassroots security and better protect lives and property across the country.
Those at the meeting included Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Benjamin Kalu, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi, Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun and other senior government and security officials.