FG Announces New Appointment

The Federal Government has appointed Professor Emmanuel Olukemi Rotimi of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, to the Policy Advisory Committee supporting the Presidential Working Group on the proposed National Policing Bill.

According to information monitored by Ireporter Online, Rotimi was selected for the committee because of his extensive academic research into the history and development of policing in Nigeria, particularly the country’s former decentralised policing structures.

The proposed National Policing Bill is expected to establish a legal framework for the operation of both Federal and State Police Services as part of ongoing efforts to reform the nation’s policing system.

The Presidential Working Group, chaired by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, has been given seven weeks to prepare a workable draft of the proposed legislation before submitting it to the Federal Ministry of Justice.

The Policy Advisory Committee is headed by retired Justice Mohammed Abdullahi Liman and is responsible for providing policy direction, guiding the drafting process and reviewing the proposed legislation before its finalisation.

Rotimi, a professor in the Department of History at Obafemi Awolowo University, has devoted several years to researching Nigeria’s policing institutions under both colonial and post-colonial administrations.

His academic work includes research into the Native Administration Police Forces in Western Nigeria between 1905 and 1951, as well as doctoral research examining Native Administration Police Forces across Nigeria from 1900 to 1970.

He is also the author of The Police in a Federal State: The Nigerian Experience, a 2001 publication examining the origins, structure and evolution of Native Authority and Local Government police forces before their eventual abolition.

His appointment is expected to contribute historical and academic expertise to the ongoing process of developing a new legal framework for policing in Nigeria.