Tinubu sets up presidential panel to draft National Policing Bill
President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday inaugurated the Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill, marking a major step towards the implementation of state police across Nigeria.
Represented by his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Tinubu said the committee would prepare the legal framework required to operationalise the proposed dual policing system following the National Assembly’s passage of the Constitution Alteration (State Police) Bill, 2026.
The constitutional amendment seeks to establish a dual policing structure comprising the Federal Police Service and 36 State Police Services.
Tinubu explained that while the constitutional amendment creates the framework for state police, a separate National Policing Bill is needed to provide the legal and operational structure for its implementation.
“The Constitution Amendment Bill establishes the framework for dual policing, but it does not operationalise it. That work is left to the National Policing Bill,” the President said.
He said the proposed legislation would address key issues such as minimum policing standards, state readiness certification, federal-state coordination, accountability, human rights safeguards and fiscal conditions.
According to him, the committee has been mandated to produce an implementation-ready draft bill for transmission to the National Assembly immediately after the constitutional amendment process is concluded.
“The Working Group has been constituted to produce a technically robust, implementation-ready draft National Policing Bill for transmission to the National Assembly,” Tinubu said.
