President Bola Tinubu has inaugurated a seven-member Presidential Working Group, chaired by his Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila, to produce the National Policing Bill that will operationalise the Constitution Alteration (State Police) Bill, 2026, which has cleared the National Assembly and is now before the State Houses of Assembly for ratification.
President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday inaugurated a seven-man Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill, tasking it with drafting the legal framework required to give operational effect to Nigeria's proposed dual federal-state policing structure.
The inauguration took place at the State House, Abuja, on 7 July 2026. Tinubu was represented by his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, who chairs the Working Group.
The Working Group's other members are the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN); the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Afam Osigwe; the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors' Forum; the National Security Adviser; the Inspector-General of Police; and the Chairman of the NGF Committee on State Police. A secretariat will provide administrative support to the committee.
The Working Group's constitution follows the National Assembly's passage of the Constitution Alteration (State Police) Bill, 2026, which proposes replacing Nigeria's single centralised police architecture with a dual structure comprising a Federal Police Service and 36 State Police Services. The National Assembly has passed the constitution alteration bill. Under Section 9 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), an alteration to the Constitution does not take effect on passage by the National Assembly alone. It requires support of not less than two-thirds majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, and thereafter ratification by resolution of not less than two-thirds of the 36 State Houses of Assembly. Only once that threshold of State Assembly ratifications is met does the alteration become law.
As of the inauguration, that ratification process was ongoing, and Attorney-General Fagbemi used the occasion to appeal to state governors to ensure "speedy ratification" by their respective Houses of Assembly — itself confirmation that ratification was not yet complete nationwide. Tinubu's remarks, read at the event, drew a clear legal distinction between the two instruments now in play. "The constitution amendment bill establishes the framework for dual policing, but it does not operationalise it," the President said. "That work is left to the National Policing Bill." The proposed National Policing Bill, he indicated, would contain the operational detail: minimum policing standards, a state readiness certification process, mechanisms for federal-state coordination, accountability provisions, human rights safeguards and fiscal conditions for states establishing their own police services.
Why the two tracks are running in parallel:
The constitutional amendment and the enabling legislation carry different legal weights and different passage requirements. Because the constitution alteration bill requires the supermajority and multi-state ratification process described above, it is a slower-moving instrument by design. The National Policing Bill, by contrast, would be an ordinary Act of the National Assembly, requiring only simple majority passage in the ordinary legislative process, without the requirement of State Assembly ratification. This is the legal logic behind the Working Group's early constitution.
Tinubu said the group had been formed to produce "a technically robust, implementation-ready draft National Policing Bill for transmission to the National Assembly" immediately after the constitutional amendment process concludes, rather than "wait until the constitutional process is concluded before beginning this important assignment." In effect, the drafting of the operational statute is proceeding on a parallel track to the constitutional ratification process, so that the enabling law is ready for introduction once the constitutional amendment takes effect.
What the dual structure would mean for federalism and policing powers:
Policing in Nigeria currently sits on the Exclusive Legislative List, meaning only the National Assembly may legislate on it, and the Nigeria Police Force operates as a single centralised body under federal command. The Constitution Alteration (State Police) Bill, 2026, proposes to alter that arrangement by creating room for each of the 36 states to establish and control its own State Police Service, operating alongside a Federal Police Service.
Speaking on behalf of the Nigeria Governors' Forum, Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State said the bill "answered the cries of Nigerians about cascading policing and removing it from the Exclusive Legislative List." He cited Amotekun, the South-west's regional security outfit, as evidence validating the state-police model, and estimated that each state deploying roughly 6,000 personnel would add close to 200,000 officers nationwide to complement the federal police. Attorney-General Fagbemi described the initiative as timely given Nigeria's security challenges.
Safeguards the NBA is pressing for:
NBA President Afam Osigwe endorsed the constitutional direction while pressing for legal guardrails in the enabling legislation. "Nigeria can hardly be effectively policed by one national police. We fully support the constitutional amendment providing for state police," Osigwe said. He added: "We must ensure we do not create a monster. The right legal framework must guarantee accountability and prevent oppression." Osigwe pledged the NBA's commitment to supporting the committee's work.
What happens next:
Two processes now run concurrently. First, the constitutional ratification track: State Houses of Assembly across the 36 states must pass resolutions on the Constitution Alteration (State Police) Bill, 2026, and the alteration becomes law only once two-thirds of them (24 states) have done so, in addition to the two-thirds National Assembly majority already secured. Second, the drafting track: the Presidential Working Group, under Gbajabiamila's chairmanship, will produce a draft National Policing Bill covering minimum standards, state readiness certification, coordination, accountability, human rights safeguards and fiscal conditions, for transmission to the National Assembly. No timeline for either process was given at the inauguration beyond the stated intention to have the draft bill ready to follow immediately once the constitutional amendment is concluded.
