Two Tracks, One Question: When Does State Police Actually Arrive?

Femi Gbajabiamila says the Presidency will transmit the National Policing Bill to the National Assembly within about two weeks. The Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu spoke after a steering committee meeting at the State House in Abuja on 15 October 2026, according to a statement by presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga. He called it the most consequential bill of the Tinubu administration.

Gbajabiamila put the bill at "90% ready." Governors, he said, have "one or two observations," and one more meeting is needed to finalise the text.

The drafting timeline is short. The working group's steering committee began deliberations on 3 August 2026. The next day, the Presidential Working Group on the proposed National Policing Bill invited Nigerians to submit memoranda and policy proposals, with a two-week window. Submissions, it said, would be reviewed and integrated into the draft before further national consultation and transmission to the National Assembly.

That consultation window closed in August. The bill has not yet been sent.

A separate track is already further along. The National Assembly transmitted the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (Sixth Alteration) Bill 2026 to the 36 state Houses of Assembly on 16 September 2026. On 9 October 2026, the Senate expressed confidence it would secure the required two-thirds approval. Senator Yemi Adaramodu, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, said the vast majority of Nigerians desire state police.

State police would redistribute security authority between the federal government and the 36 states, potentially changing how policing is funded, commanded and overseen. The constitutional amendment needs approval from at least 24 state Houses of Assembly.

Which track decides when state police arrive is not settled by the Presidency's two-week promise. The bill's transmission is one step. Ratification is another. Neither has happened yet.

Retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police Adedayo Adeoye has argued that state police should be controlled by governors and that the Federal Capital Territory should be included in the arrangement.

Separately, retired police officers under the Contributory Pension Scheme gave the Federal Government, PENCOM and the Inspector General of Police an October 15, 2026 deadline over gratuity payments and pension enhancement, threatening a peaceful mass protest in Abuja on November 2, 2026.

What remains unknown: whether the two-week promise holds and on what date; what the governors' observations are and whether they will be disclosed; how the August memoranda will be reflected in the final draft; the status of the Sixth Alteration Bill in the 36 state assemblies; and whether the National Policing Bill depends on ratification or can proceed independently.