Following agitation for the establishment of State Police in Nigeria to counter insecurity that bedeviled some parts of the country have thrown their weight behind the move.
The amendment requires approval by at least 24 state Houses of Assembly before it can proceed to the next stage of the constitutional process.
The Presidency has said that so far Edo, Rivers, Osun and Oyo states have approved the constitutional amendment bill seeking to provide legal backing for the establishment of state police.
Nnadubem Moghalu, Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Planning and Research disclosed this while delivering a lecture titled “The Imperative for State Police: Securing Communities, Strengthening Federalism,” at the 2nd Annual Distinguished Parliamentary Award and Lecture Series in Abuja yesterday organised by the House of Representatives Press Corps.
Moghalu, who is the Secretary of the Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill, said the National Assembly had already transmitted the constitutional amendment bill to the state Houses of Assembly for consideration.
Moghalu said President Tinubu’s decision to constitute the working group before the constitutional process was concluded was aimed at ensuring that the country was prepared for the administrative, financial and institutional requirements of state policing..
According to him, the constitutional amendment and the National Policing Bill being prepared by the Presidential Working Group were separate but complementary processes.
“The constitutional amendment would create the legal basis for a dual policing model, while the National Policing Bill would provide the operational framework for its implementation.
“An alteration to the Constitution cannot, by itself, recruit and train an officer or equip a police station. It cannot create the administrative capacity to investigate a crime. Those tasks require preparation and resources, and they take time.
“The National Policing Bill was being developed through consultations with stakeholders, including academics, think tanks, community advocacy groups, socio-cultural organisations, political groups and security agencies,” Moghalu said.
The Senior Special Assistant said the working group had earlier invited memoranda from Nigerians through advertisements in national newspapers and broadcast stations in English, Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo.
“The core of the National Policing Bill is settled. Work continues to ensure that its parts operate coherently and that the proposed solutions do not create difficulties elsewhere,” he said.
Moghalu said the working group would submit a draft validated by the group and the Ministry of Justice to the President for consideration and transmission to the National Assembly.
The presidential aide stressed that the proposed reform must not merely replicate existing policing weaknesses across more institutions.
“If these reforms merely federalise the status quo, distributing familiar failures across more institutions, they will have failed,” he said.
He also called for adequate funding, training, equipment and welfare for police officers, stressing that legislation alone would not guarantee effective policing.
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