Amid ongoing efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s internal security architecture, the Federal Government has revealed that plans for the establishment of state police have advanced significantly, with a constitutional amendment now nearing completion after months of technical and security consultations across key institutions.
The development comes against the backdrop of escalating insecurity in parts of the country, including repeated bandit attacks on rural communities and schools, which have heightened concerns over the capacity of the current centralised policing structure and intensified calls for a decentralised system to improve rapid response, local intelligence gathering and overall security at the grassroots.
Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, disclosed this on Thursday while briefing State House correspondents after a consultative meeting on the proposed state police framework held at the State House, Abuja.
Gbajabiamila said deliberations on the initiative began several months ago following a directive by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, noting that the process has gained significant traction.
“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,” he said.
He added that the complexity of the reform required careful legal and constitutional work.
“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.”
According to him, the process has now reached the stage of constitutional amendment, while the enabling legislation 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 said.
Gbajabiamila further noted that there is growing consensus around the reform, with focus now on the legal framework rather than whether state police should be created.
He said President Tinubu, who has consistently advocated for state police as part of efforts to strengthen the country’s security architecture, would receive a comprehensive report on the outcome of the meeting.
The meeting is part of a series of consultations by the Federal Government aimed at developing a workable framework for state police, expected to enhance internal security, improve local intelligence gathering, and strengthen the capacity of sub-national governments to respond to emerging security challenges.
Those present included the Deputy President of the Senate, Jibrin Barau; Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu; Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi; and the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, among other senior government officials.