The federal government on Thursday signalled fresh momentum toward the establishment of state police in Nigeria, with the presidency revealing that constitutional amendments required for the initiative could soon be transmitted for legislative consideration.
Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, disclosed this after a high-level consultative meeting on state policing held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Gbajabiamila said deliberations on the proposed policing structure began several months ago following directives from President Tinubu and have since advanced significantly through consultations involving the Presidency, the National Assembly and relevant security agencies.
According to him, the process of creating state police requires extensive constitutional and legal procedures, making it necessary for stakeholders to proceed cautiously.
“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,” Gbajabiamila stated.
He explained that the government has made substantial progress in discussions surrounding the framework needed to implement the policy.
“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,” he said.
The Chief of Staff further disclosed that attention is currently focused on the constitutional amendment process that would provide the legal foundation for the new policing system, while the necessary enabling laws would follow afterwards.
“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 noted that there is now widespread agreement across the country on the need for state police, stressing that discussions have shifted from whether the system should exist to how it can be effectively implemented.
He said President Tinubu, who has consistently supported decentralised policing, would be briefed comprehensively on the outcome of the consultations.
The meeting is part of ongoing efforts by the federal government to design a workable operational and legal framework for state police, a proposal many stakeholders believe could strengthen internal security and improve local intelligence gathering.
Supporters of the initiative have argued that allowing states to operate policing structures would enable quicker responses to security threats and improve the protection of lives and property at the grassroots level.
President Tinubu has repeatedly maintained that decentralised policing remains critical to addressing Nigeria’s changing security challenges, insisting that state police would complement existing federal security structures and enhance community-based intelligence operations nationwide.
