Time for State Police: Tinubu Urges North-East Governors to Lobby National Assembly
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday declared that the time has come for Nigeria to establish state police, as part of efforts to address worsening insecurity across the country.
Tinubu made this known during a closed-door meeting with governors from the North-East region at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. He urged the governors to lobby the National Assembly to expedite action on a bill that would provide the legal framework for the creation of state police.
According to the President, reliance on civilian Joint Task Forces (JTF) and other ad hoc security groups cannot adequately fill the gap in supporting regular security outfits, nor can they provide the long-term solution required to restore peace and stability.
The situation has shown us clearly that it is time to fine-tune and establish state police. The use of civilian JTF may help in the short term, but it cannot give us the desired results in the long run. We need a structured and constitutional solution, Tinubu said.
The move signals renewed urgency by the Federal Government to decentralize policing and give states greater control over internal security. If passed, the bill will mark one of the most significant security reforms in Nigeria’s history.
