By our Reporter
The National Policing Bill is 90 per cent ready for transmission to the National Assembly, with the Federal Government expecting to forward the proposed legislation within two weeks, Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said.
Gbajabiamila, who chairs the Presidential Working Group on the proposed legislation, disclosed this on Thursday while addressing journalists after a steering committee meeting at the State House in Abuja.
He said the committee might hold one more meeting to address outstanding issues and incorporate observations from state governors before transmitting the bill to the National Assembly.
“The National Policing Bill is more or less ready for transmission to the National Assembly. We will probably have one more meeting after this to cross the t’s and dot the i’s and make sure every area is covered. So, we are 90 per cent ready,” he said.
Gbajabiamila added that the governors had raised a few observations, expressing confidence that the bill would be ready within about a week.
He described the proposed legislation as “the most consequential Bill of the administration so far,” noting that the working group’s steering committee had been deliberating on it since August 3.
On concerns over the pace of state-level approval of the Sixth Constitution Alteration Bill, which seeks to establish state police, Gbajabiamila expressed confidence that the proposed reform enjoyed broad national support.
He was responding to reports that only about six states had passed the constitutional amendment out of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“I see no reason why anyone will want to have a rethink on it,” he said, insisting that there was a national consensus on the need for the proposed constitutional amendments.
The meeting was attended by the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq; Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun; Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani; and the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice was represented by the Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs Beatrice Jedy-Agba.
Other participants included retired Justice Abdullahi Liman, Chairman of the Policy Advisory Committee; Professor Olu Ogunsakin, Head of the Nigeria Police Reform Secretariat; Dr Lanre Smart, Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives); and Nnadubem Moghalu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Planning and Research and secretary of the committee.
Representatives of the Nigerian Bar Association and the National Security Adviser also attended the meeting.
The proposed National Policing Bill forms part of ongoing efforts to reform Nigeria’s policing system, while the proposed constitutional amendment would provide the legal framework for the establishment of state police.
