State Police: Presidency Tasks Private Sector To Develop Comprehensive Funding, Implementation Blueprint

State Police: Presidency Tasks Private Sector To Develop Comprehensive Funding, Implementation Blueprint Deji Elumoye in Abuja The Presidency has tasked organised private sector in the country to develop a comprehensive financing and implementation blueprint for the proposed state police system.It stated that businesses must take an active role in building the security institutions required to protect investments, create jobs and strengthen economic resilience.Chief of Staff to the President and Chairman of the Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, who gave the challenge, particularly charged the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), chambers of commerce and business associations with producing practical proposals for financing, institutional management and accountable partnerships to support the decentralisation of policing.According to him, the private sector has a direct stake in the success of the reform because insecurity was already imposing enormous costs on businesses through disrupted supply chains, abandoned investments, postponed factory expansions and lost economic opportunities.Speaking during a plenary session on “Security, Stability and Economic Resilience” at the 32nd Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja, Gbajabiamila said President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to establishing state police presented an opportunity for businesses to contribute directly to the development of security institutions capable of supporting sustainable economic growth.“I therefore ask the Nigerian Economic Summit Group to carry this engagement beyond our meeting. Bring forward a considered private sector contribution on financing and implementing state police, with practical proposals for accountable partnerships.“Take that work into the legislative process and into your engagement with state governments. For our part, we remain answerable for turning reform into protection that people can rely on,” he said.Gbajabiamila urged business leaders to engage governors and legislators on the proposed reform, drawing attention to the relationship between effective local policing, employment generation and investment decisions.He explained that the experience of businesses in managing institutions, controlling expenditure and assessing risks could strengthen the design and implementation of the new policing framework.According to him, the organised private sector should also provide evidence of security failures preventing otherwise viable investments from proceeding, enabling policymakers to determine where additional security capacity was most urgently required.“His words: “Your participation should also improve the substance of the reform. As the legislative process proceeds, examine the proposals for financing and oversight.“Bring your experience of managing institutions and controlling expenditure to that discussion. Help us understand the security failures that prevent viable projects from proceeding.”The Chief of Staff, however, cautioned that private sector involvement must be transparent and should never compromise the independence of police institutions.He said businesses could contribute expertise in communications infrastructure, equipment maintenance and financial planning, but insisted that such partnerships must operate within clearly defined legal and accountability frameworks.“Where businesses provide resources, those contributions need published accounts and independent scrutiny.“Public funding must remain dependable, and a donation must never purchase influence over an investigation or preferential treatment. The object is to strengthen a public service on which every citizen can rely,” he warned.Gbajabiamila explained that the administration was determined to establish financially sustainable state police institutions, insisting that states seeking to operate their own services must demonstrate the capacity to meet recurrent expenditure obligations.According to him, providing vehicles, uniforms and other equipment at the commencement of operations would be insufficient without sustainable arrangements for personnel salaries, professional training and operational maintenance.“Financial readiness is equally important. A state taking on policing must be able to sustain the service after the initial purchase of vehicles and uniforms. “Regular pay and continued training are essential to professional conduct. An institution that cannot meet its obligations to its officers becomes vulnerable to private patrons and unlawful demands on the public,” he cautioned.The Chief of Staff assured that federal policing would continue in states not yet financially or institutionally prepared to establish their own police services.Providing an update on the legislative process, Gbajabiamila confirmed that 24 State Houses of Assembly had approved the constitutional amendment providing for state police as at October 23, 2026 meeting the required two-thirds threshold.He disclosed that the Presidential Working Group had submitted the draft National Policing Bill and 29 consequential amendment bills to the Federal Ministry of Justice on October 19 for legislative review.According to him, after the review and the Working Group’s final consideration, the proposals would be presented to President Tinubu for approval before transmission to the National Assembly.He explained that the proposed framework would enable willing and capable states to assume greater responsibility for protecting their residents, while retaining a strong federal police institution to address interstate criminal activities and other specialised national security requirements.Gbajabiamila said the reform was intended to correct the structural imbalance under which state governments were responsible for responding to the consequences of insecurity without possessing corresponding authority to organise policing.“Bringing policing closer to the communities it serves can improve local intelligence and shorten the time between a call for help and an effective response,” he explained.Addressing concerns about the possible deployment of state police against political opponents, he assured Nigerians that the proposed legislation would contain enforceable safeguards, national professional standards and independent oversight mechanisms.“The concern that police powers could be used against political opponents or vulnerable communities is serious. Our answer is to place enforceable limits on those powers and provide remedies when they are abused.“A citizen’s entitlement to protection cannot depend on whom he supports or where she comes from,” the Chief of Staff declared.He said the framework had benefited from consultations with state governments, security institutions, members of the public and a Policy Advisory Committee drawn from the public and private sectors.Explaining why businesses should champion the reform, Gbajabiamila said insecurity affected investment decisions far beyond the immediate financial burden of hiring private security personnel.Said he: “The cost of the present arrangement is already in your accounts. You pay for additional security and disrupted deliveries.“You also bear losses that never appear as a separate charge: a factory expansion postponed, or a productive location excluded from your investment plans.”He argued that companies could not guarantee sustainable operations merely by securing their premises while surrounding communities remained unsafe.According to him: ‘A company can reinforce its perimeter. Its workers still have to travel home, and its suppliers still have to move through the surrounding communities.“Your long-term security depends on the strength of public institutions beyond your gates.”Turning to the administration’s wider security interventions, Gbajabiamila said President Tinubu had supported the modernisation of the Armed Forces through the induction of helicopters into Army Aviation and the restoration of more than 100 refurbished armoured fighting vehicles to active service.He recalled that the President commissioned three additional naval vessels in June to strengthen maritime security, noting that sustained operations against crude oil theft had contributed to improved oil production, foreign exchange earnings and government revenues.On food security, the Chief of Staff disclosed that the deployment of 10,000 Agro-Rangers across 19 states and the Federal Capital Territory was helping to integrate agricultural production with security protection.He explained that the administration recognised that investments in improved seedlings, agricultural credit and other support programmes would achieve little without guaranteeing farmers’ access to their land.“Improved seedlings and access to credit will achieve little on farmland that its owners are afraid to cultivate. Protection makes those agricultural interventions usable,” he said.Gbajabiamila also highlighted the Presidential Forest Guards Initiative, under which more than 7,000 personnel drawn from seven frontline states had completed training by December 2025 to support security operations in areas exploited by criminal groups.He disclosed that President Tinubu had directed the preparation of a National Threat Assessment and a rolling five-year Strategic Defence Operations Plan in August to improve coordination, align security spending with operational priorities and strengthen institutional accountability.Acknowledging that Nigerians continued to face threats of kidnapping and violent attacks despite government investments in security, he said the administration recognised that its achievements must ultimately be measured by the safety of citizens.“Nigerians living with the threat of abduction or attack are entitled to judge us by their own safety. We recognise the distance between an improvement in national capacity and dependable protection in every community.”The Chief of Staff further linked the administration’s security interventions with its economic reform programme, including fuel subsidy removal, foreign exchange restructuring and tax reforms.He acknowledged that the reforms had imposed considerable pressure on households and businesses but maintained that economic productivity and security were mutually dependent.“A government with inadequate revenues cannot sustain the institutions required to protect its citizens. An economy in which people cannot work safely cannot generate the revenues government needs.“We have therefore had to address both problems together, even as the costs of transition have placed considerable pressure on Nigerian households and businesses,” the Chief of Staff explained.Gbajabiamila urged investors to respond to improving security conditions by returning to communities where commercial activities had been disrupted, arguing that renewed investments would create employment, restore local supply chains and expand public revenues.He assured business leaders that the administration welcomed constructive criticism and practical recommendations, stressing that President Tinubu’s willingness to confront longstanding structural challenges required sustained cooperation from all stakeholders.“A farmer returning to his land and an employer reopening a business will be making decisions about their families’ futures. Our work together must give them sound reasons to proceed.”