The Federal Government has launched a seven-week process to develop a National Policing Bill, inviting Nigerians to submit proposals that will help shape a legal and operational framework for state policing across the country, according to a statement issued by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy.
Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, who chairs the Presidential Working Group overseeing the initiative, disclosed the timeline on Monday following the group’s meeting at the State House in Abuja, the statement said.
According to Onanuga, the Working Group is currently examining the Police Act 2020, the Police Service Commission framework, and other relevant police regulations to inform the design of a modernised policing system.
The resulting framework is expected to establish national minimum standards, define criteria for state readiness and certification, clarify which government levels handle which duties, and build in independent oversight and human rights safeguards. It will also address how funding will be sustained and how the country transitions to a dual federal-state policing structure.
The statement noted that citizens, professionals, civil society groups, security agencies, state and local governments, and academics will have two weeks to submit memoranda. Once collected, submissions will be reviewed and folded into the draft bill, which will then go through further nationwide consultation before being finalised and forwarded to the National Assembly.
Per the statement, the Working Group’s schedule spans July 27 to September 14, 2026. A draft Executive Bill is due to be presented to President Bola Tinubu on September 3, with additional consultations to follow before final approval.
Onanuga quoted Gbajabiamila as saying any state seeking to stand up its own police service will have to prove it has solid systems in place — covering recruitment, vetting, training, pay, pensions, equipment, custody procedures, complaints handling, discipline, data management, firearms control, oversight, and financial sustainability — before it can begin operating.
The statement also quoted Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, speaking on behalf of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, describing the state police push as one of the defining reforms of the Tinubu administration. He was said to have pushed back on suggestions that the plan amounts to federal overreach, insisting the goal is to set an operational framework, not centralise control.
According to the statement, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi said the bill is meant to strengthen protection of lives and property while guarding against state police being used as a tool of political persecution. He reportedly added that states not yet ready to run their own forces would continue to rely on federal police coverage until they meet the required benchmarks.
Onanuga’s statement listed other attendees at the meeting as Inspector-General of Police Tunji Disu; Nigerian Bar Association President Afam Osigwe; retired Justice Abdullahi Liman, who chairs the Policy Advisory Committee; Professor Olu Ogunsakin of the Nigeria Police Reform Secretariat; Senior Special Assistant to the President on Planning and Research Nnadubem Moghalu; and Brigadier General Olutayo Muyiwa Adesuyi, representing the National Security Adviser.
