JUST IN: Tinubu names Justice Liman to head committee on state police reform
President Bola Tinubu has approved the establishment of a multidisciplinary Policy Advisory Committee to provide technical and policy oversight for the proposed National Policing Bill as the Federal Government intensifies efforts to implement state policing in Nigeria.
Chief of Staff to the President and Chairman of the Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill, Femi Gbajabiamila, announced this on Monday while briefing State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said the committee, to be chaired by retired Justice Mohammed Abdullahi Liman, brings together experts from the judiciary, academia, security agencies, public policy, technology, the National Assembly and subnational governments to guide the reform process.
According to Gbajabiamila, the committee’s membership includes representatives of the judiciary, police and other security agencies, justice-sector reform advocates, public policy specialists, technology and data experts, the Office of the National Security Adviser, the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Bar Association, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and State Attorneys-General.
He noted that the committee also reflects Nigeria’s federal character by including State Attorneys-General drawn from the six geopolitical zones.
“The role of the Policy Advisory Committee is to provide high-level policy and technical oversight. It will test assumptions, identify gaps, review the policy outline and successive versions of the Bill, and validate the supporting fiscal, transition and implementation materials before they move to executive consideration,” Gbajabiamila said.
He added that the committee would maintain an independent record of its recommendations to strengthen transparency and public confidence in the proposed policing reforms.
Gbajabiamila said the Presidential Working Group had commenced implementation of a seven-week work plan aimed at producing an implementation-ready National Policing Bill to support Nigeria’s proposed dual policing system.
