newslifeonline

 

.... Constitutional change expected soon after months of consultation, Gbajabiamila says

ABUJA — Nigeria’s constitutional amendment to establish state police is nearing completion after months of consultation, the Presidency said Thursday.

Chief of Staff to the President Femi Gbajabiamila told State House Correspondents that deliberations on the framework began several months ago on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive and have now gained “considerable traction.”

“We started deliberations in the last three or four months on how to go about the establishment of state police as directed by Mr. President,” Gbajabiamila said after a consultative meeting at the State House, Abuja.

“Establishing state police is not something that you do with the snap of the fingers. There is a lot involved in terms of constitution and legalities, and thank God we have now gained a lot of traction. Hopefully, the amendment will come shortly, and the details of the amendment will come after that.”

Gbajabiamila said discussions have advanced to drafting the constitutional amendment, with enabling legislation to follow. “Right now, what we are looking at is the constitutional amendment itself, and then the enabling law would follow thereafter,” he said.

He said broad national support now exists for the initiative, and the debate has shifted from whether to create state police to designing the legal and institutional framework for operations.

President Tinubu has consistently backed state police as part of efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture. Gbajabiamila said the president would receive a comprehensive report on Thursday’s meeting.

The meeting is part of ongoing federal consultations to develop a workable framework for state police aimed at improving local intelligence gathering and giving sub-national governments more capacity to address security challenges.

Attendees included Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau, Deputy House Speaker Benjamin Kalu, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi, and Inspector-General of Police Tunji Disu.