The Federal Government has initiated the operational and legal preparations needed to establish state policing in Nigeria.
Speaking with newsmen in Abuja on Monday, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to the President and head of the Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill, unveiled a seven-week strategy to produce legislation regulating both federal and state police operations.
He emphasized that while constitutional reforms are underway in Parliament, formal state police structures have yet to be established.
According to him, the Nigeria Police Force remains the country’s only legally recognised police organisation until the constitutional process is completed.
Gbajabiamila explained that the Senate approved the constitutional proposal on June 24, 2026, while the House of Representatives passed the Executive State Police Bill on July 23, 2026.
Gbajabiamila clarified that the constitutional amendment will only take effect once it receives approval from the required majority of State Houses of Assembly and a supporting implementation law is passed.
Reassuring the public, he stressed that no operational state police service currently exists in Nigeria, as constitutional changes merely lay the legal foundation.
The upcoming National Policing Bill, he explained, will supply the essential operational rules and structural framework needed for the new two-tier policing system to function effectively.