The Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill has extended by eight days the deadline for members of the public to submit memoranda and position papers on the proposed legislation.
The deadline, originally set for Thursday, 13 August, has now been moved to 5:00 p.m. on Friday, 21 August, Femi Gbajabiamila, the chairperson of the working group, said in a statement on Thursday.
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Mr Gbajabiamila, who is also the chief of staff to President Bola Tinubu, explained that the extension is to give individuals, institutions and organisations additional time to prepare and submit their contributions to the proposed legislation.
In June, the National Assembly passed legislation to establish state policing, a key reform that President Tinubu says will help curb spiralling insecurity in Nigeria.
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PREMIUM TIMES reported that the federal government announced a seven-week roadmap, including a call for memoranda on how to seamlessly transition Nigeria 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
Despite hopes by proponents of state police, critics including former police chiefs say state governors are likely to abuse the system. However, this newspaper understands that the main objective of calling for public input is to address these concerns.
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According to the working group, the extension will help ensure that the public can make well-considered contributions to the process of developing a new national policing framework.
The proposed legislation is expected to provide the operational, administrative, institutional and funding framework for an effective policing architecture capable of responding to Nigeria’s evolving security needs.
It is also expected to provide safeguards for accountability, professionalism and the protection of citizens’ rights.
The working group said the significance of the proposed reforms made broader public participation necessary, encouraging legal practitioners, civil society organisations, security sector professionals, state governments, professional bodies, academics, experts and interested members of the public to use the additional time to submit their views.
It 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.
READ ALSO: Tinubu to receive draft state police bill on 3 September Gbajabiamila says
“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,” the statement said.
All 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.
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