The Federal Government says the National Policing Bill is 90 percent ready and will be transmitted to the National Assembly within the next two weeks.
Chairman of the Presidential Working Group on the Bill and Chief of Staff to the President, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, disclosed this on Thursday while speaking to journalists after the steering committee meeting at the State House in Abuja.
According to him, the Bill is more or less ready for transmission, with just one more meeting left to finalise all grey areas.
“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.
“The governors have one or two observations, and we should be ready in about a week or so,” Gbajabiamila said.
He described the Bill as the most consequential Bill of the present administration, noting that it has undergone strenuous exercises in the last few weeks since the steering committee began deliberations on August 3.
Gbajabiamila also addressed concerns over the slow pace of passage of the Sixth Constitution Alteration Bill on State Police at the State Houses of Assembly, with reports indicating that only about six states have passed the amendment out of the 36 states and the FCT.
He said there is a national consensus among Nigerians on the need for the amendment, adding that he sees no reason why any state would want to have a rethink on it.
Participants at Thursday’s meeting included the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, 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, Prof. 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 who also doubles as Secretary of the Committee, Nnadubem Moghalu; representative of the President of the Nigerian Bar Association; and AIG Abraham Nabhon Thomas, representing the National Security Adviser.
