The Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill has extended the deadline for public submissions of memoranda and position papers by eight days, moving it from 13 August to 5:00 p.m. on 21 August, according to a statement by Femi Gbajabiamila, the group's chairperson and chief of staff to President Bola Tinubu.
Extension to Encourage Broader Participation
Gbajabiamila explained that the extension aims to give individuals, institutions, and organisations additional time to prepare and submit their contributions to the proposed legislation. The working group emphasised that the significance of the proposed reforms necessitates broader public participation, encouraging legal practitioners, civil society organisations, security sector professionals, state governments, professional bodies, academics, experts, and interested members of the public to use the extra time to submit their views.
Background and Key Provisions
The National Assembly passed legislation in June to establish state policing, a reform President Tinubu says will help curb spiralling insecurity in Nigeria. The federal government announced a seven-week roadmap, including a call for memoranda on transitioning from a unitary policing system to one that allows for state police. The proposed legislation provides for state police services to be coordinated alongside the federal police under an expanded National Police Council, while introducing safeguards such as legislative confirmation of state police commissioners and independent state police service commissions to oversee recruitment and discipline.
Concerns and Critical Issues
Critics, including former police chiefs, have expressed concerns that state governors are likely to abuse the system. The working group identified sustainable funding, command and control structures, recruitment and training standards, operational jurisdiction, inter-agency coordination, accountability mechanisms, and safeguards against political interference or abuse as among the critical issues requiring consideration. The statement noted, "These considerations underscore the importance of robust stakeholder engagement in developing a framework that is effective, accountable, sustainable and responsive to the peculiar security needs of communities across the Federation."
Submissions must be made exclusively through the official National Policing Bill portal before the new deadline. The working group said it would present a final, implementation-ready draft of the National Policing Bill for onward legislative processing at the conclusion of its assignment. The extension is expected to ensure that the public can make well-considered contributions to the process of developing a new national policing framework, which aims to provide the operational, administrative, institutional, and funding framework for an effective policing architecture capable of responding to Nigeria's evolving security needs, while also providing safeguards for accountability, professionalism, and the protection of citizens' rights.
