Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, has disclosed that the National Assembly had started working on a decentralised police model that would emphasise accountability and discourage the abused use of police by the political class.
Bamidele, also Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, added that the parliament “is committed to crafting a framework for a decentralised police model that will serve the interests of all regardless of their status.”
He made these remarks in a statement he personally issued on Sunday to celebrate the life and exploits of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his 74th anniversary while commending diverse initiatives he had promoted to secure and stabilise Nigeria.
Amid security challenges confronting the federation, key stakeholders had pushed for a decentralised police model that would reflect the country’s federal characters as a measure to effectively protect lives and property across the federation.
While President Tinubu had openly supported the decentralised model, the Nigeria Police had submitted a 75-page comprehensive framework to the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Jibrin Barau, for legislative consideration.
In his statement on Sunday, Bamidele commended Tinubu for building synergy with the National Assembly to arrest the spate of insecurity in the country, noting that the president had been looking beyond traditional approaches to address the roots of extremism, terrorism and armed attacks.
Bamidele observed that Tinubu “has already lent his voice to the creation of a decentralised police model as part of measures to ensure the security of lives, private property and public installations across the federation.”
He said the essence of the model “is to devolve policing powers to the sub-national authorities with a view to ensuring effective governance even in the remotest part of our land. This is one request that the National Assembly has been treating with priority.”
The senate leader added that the new police framework under consideration “will incorporate accountability mechanisms that will prevent the abuse of power by the political class; reinforce justice administration; discourage the culture of impunity and set guardrails for the preservation of fundamental human rights.
“All these initiatives are at the core of shared conviction, which the Presidency and National Assembly have been working on to secure Nigeria better,” Bamidele assured Nigerians that the framework would be anchored to accountability mechanisms and global best practices.
At 74, Bamidele celebrated key achievements of Tinubu in public space, pointing out that he had sufficiently demonstrated his allegiance, love and sacrifice for the collective prosperity of Nigerians.
He described the president as “a man of history, purpose and vision, who rose above barriers, to steer the ship of our fatherland out of the turbulent sea. His reforms, though came with initial pains, have now started yielding enviable outcomes that promise a greater Nigeria.”
As the father of the Nation, Bamidele noted that Tinubu “has remained firm and resolute, leading daily our fatherland with conviction and resilience, dexterity and patriotism despite the difficult times we are going through.
“His quest for an economically viable, politically stable and socially cohesive Nigeria did not start recently. It started way back to his younger days as a progressive enthusiast that seeks greater good for the greatest number of his compatriots. That was the life he lived from when he was in the corporate world to when he ventured into partisan politics in the botched Third Republic.
“As a pro-democracy proponent, he fought valiantly alongside other heroes for the soul of our Nation and for the restoration of democratic order. As the 12th Governor of Lagos State, he implemented pro-people reforms that significantly transformed the state into a city state of global reckoning that it is today.
“Now as the 16th President of Nigeria, he has been consistent in making tough policy choices that his predecessors could not decisively make. Today, the choices have brought our Nation from the dark realm of uncertainty to the path that will lead to a glorious future.
“One of such choices is his macro-economic reforms that strengthened the value of Naira; increased our foreign reserves from $35.09 billion in May 2023 to $50.02 billion in March 2026 and sped up foreign capital inflows into the country. By this record alone, our foreign reserve rose by 42.54% under his leadership.
“Also closely related is the Tax Reform Acts, 2025, an initiative of the Presidency that introduced far-reaching reforms to the country’s fiscal landscape,” said.
By this initiative, according to him, our fiscal landscape was comprehensively recalibrated, leading to no fewer than 111% increase in statutory transfers to the subnational governments, improved business environment and enhanced tax administration across different levels of government. This initiative salvaged Nigeria from the relapsing liquidity crises that could have led to insolvency.
