State police: National policing bill 90% ready — Gbajabiamila

The National Policing Bill is proposed legislation for running policing across Nigeria’s federal and state services. Its importance comes from the need to support the planned constitutional change allowing states to establish police services. The bill would turn that broad proposal into practical operating rules.

The article identifies five areas it would cover: recruitment, training, funding, oversight and cooperation between federal and state police services. For example, it would provide the framework for deciding how officers are recruited and trained, how police activities are funded, and how the two levels of service work together.

The bill is described as 90 per cent ready. Femi Gbajabiamila called it the administration’s most consequential bill so far. The steering committee still expected another meeting to address governors’ observations before sending it to the National Assembly within two weeks after deliberations conclude.

Saying the bill is 90 per cent ready means the drafting and review process was nearing completion, not that the legislation had already become law. Femi Gbajabiamila said the committee probably needed one more meeting to check that every area was covered. Governors still had one or two observations.

The committee had been deliberating since August 3. Gbajabiamila said the bill would be transmitted to lawmakers within two weeks after the committee concluded its deliberations. He also told journalists that the group should be ready in about a week or so.

The timing therefore involved two linked stages. First, the steering committee would complete its final review and address the governors’ points. Next, the completed bill would go to the National Assembly. Parliamentary consideration and passage were not yet reported as complete.

The constitutional amendment bill had been transmitted to all 36 state Houses of Assembly for consideration. Each state legislature therefore forms part of the process described in the article. The report also noted that only about six states had passed the Sixth Constitution Alteration Bill at that time.

This creates a clear gap between the number asked to consider the proposal and the number reported to have approved it. The National Assembly had already transmitted the amendment to the state legislatures. Their consideration was therefore an active stage in the process, rather than a completed nationwide decision.

Femi Gbajabiamila remained confident that the states would support the amendment. He said there was a national consensus on the need for the changes. The proposed National Policing Bill is being prepared alongside this constitutional process, but the article does not state the final outcome of either process.

A constitutional amendment is needed when a proposed institution or power does not fit within the powers already assigned by the constitution. In Nigeria’s case, the article presents the amendment as the legal foundation for establishing state police services. It therefore must come before the new system can be created lawfully.

The National Assembly has transmitted the Sixth Constitution Alteration Bill to all 36 state Houses of Assembly. The states must consider it as part of the amendment process. Only about six states had reportedly passed it when the report was published, so the process was not yet complete.

The article does not state the precise constitutional provision being changed or describe the approval threshold. It does show the proposed sequence: constitutional reform first, followed by an operational National Policing Bill. That bill would set rules for recruitment, training, funding, oversight and cooperation between federal and state police services.

The proposed framework is meant to make a two-level policing system workable. It would provide operational rules for federal and state police services, covering the main activities needed to create and manage them. The article does not present a detailed division of responsibilities.

Its named mechanisms are recruitment, training, funding, oversight and cooperation. In practical terms, these are the areas where the framework would establish rules, but the source does not say which service would recruit particular officers, pay particular costs or exercise specific oversight powers. It also does not describe command arrangements.

That distinction matters. The bill was 90 per cent ready, but it was still being reviewed by the Presidential Working Group. Governors had one or two observations, and the committee planned another meeting. The proposed legislation would next go to the National Assembly, while the constitutional amendment remained before the state Houses of Assembly.

Creating state police would change Nigeria from a system described here through federal and proposed state services into a system with policing responsibilities at both levels. The intended change is to establish state police services while retaining federal police services. That could give state governments a formal policing role, but the article does not define its precise extent.

The proposed National Policing Bill would supply the operational framework. It names recruitment, training, funding, oversight and cooperation as subjects for regulation. Cooperation is especially important because the proposal involves two services, yet the article gives no detailed model for command, jurisdiction or day-to-day responsibility.

The change remains in preparation. The constitutional amendment had gone to the 36 state Houses of Assembly, with about six reportedly passing it. The bill was 90 per cent ready, and Gbajabiamila expected transmission to the National Assembly after final committee deliberations. Its eventual effect depends on the legal process and legislation.

Federalism is a system in which governing authority is divided between a central government and subnational governments, such as states. That division matters for policing because the constitution determines which level may create, control, fund and oversee a police service. A major change to those powers normally requires constitutional action.

In this case, the National Assembly transmitted a constitutional amendment seeking to establish state police services to the 36 state Houses of Assembly. Alongside it, the proposed National Policing Bill would provide operational rules for federal and state police services. Those rules would cover recruitment, training, funding, oversight and cooperation.

The article does not explain Nigeria’s existing constitutional allocation of police powers or specify the final division of authority. It does show that the proposed arrangement needs both constitutional amendment and legislation. Gbajabiamila described the amendment as supported by a national consensus, while the bill was still undergoing final review.