Nigeria President Bola Tinubu launches panel to draft national policing bill

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu inaugurated a Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, appointing Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila as chairman. The panel, created after the Senate’s passage of the Constitution Alteration (State Police) Bill 2026, is tasked with producing an implementation‑ready draft law that will operationalise a dual policing system comprising the Federal Police Service and 36 state police services.

Members of the working group include the Attorney‑General of the Federation, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, the National Security Adviser, the Inspector‑General of Police and a secretariat for administrative support. The proposed bill will set minimum policing standards, state‑readiness certification, federal‑state coordination, accountability mechanisms, human‑rights safeguards and fiscal conditions.

Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, speaking for the Governors’ Forum, pledged that the 36 state governors will accelerate passage of the amendment in their assemblies and estimated that deploying about 6,000 officers per state could add nearly 200,000 personnel to the security forces. Lagos State Assembly reaffirmed its support for state police and debated a separate street‑begging regulation, while Kaduna Governor Uba Sani described the reform as an urgent, strategic solution to Nigeria’s worsening insecurity.