By Abdullahi Mukhtar Algasgaini
The Presidential Working Group on Thursday said the National Policing Bill will be transmitted to the National Assembly within two weeks.
The Chief of Staff to the President and Chairman of the Working Group, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, disclosed this while speaking with journalists after the steering committee meeting at the State House in Abuja.
He said the bill was almost ready, adding that one more meeting would be held to “cross the t’s and dot the i’s” and ensure every area was covered.
“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% ready,” he said.
“The governors have one or two observations, and we should be ready in about a week or so.”
Gbajabiamila described the bill as “the most consequential Bill of the administration so far,” saying it had undergone strenuous exercises since the working group’s steering committee began deliberations on August 3.
On the Sixth Constitution Alteration Bill (State Police), and concerns that only about six states had passed the amendment out of the 36 states and the FCT, Gbajabiamila said there was a “national consensus” among Nigerians on the need for the amendments.
“I see no reason why anyone will want to have a rethink on it,” he said.
Those at the meeting included the Chairman of the Governors’ Forum and Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRazak AbdulRahman; Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State; Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State; Inspector-General of Police Tunji Disu; and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, represented by the Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs Beatrice Jedy Agba.
Others were Chairman, Policy Advisory Committee, Justice Abdullahi Liman (rtd); Head, Nigeria Police Reform Secretariat, Professor Olu Ogunsakin; Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), Dr Lanre Smart; Senior Special Assistant to the President on Planning and Research and Secretary of the Committee, Nnadubem Moghalu; a representative of the President of the Nigerian Bar Association; and AIG Abraham Nabhon Thomas, representing the National Security Adviser.
