President Bola Tinubu and the 36 governors have agreed on the necessity of creating state police nationwide.

The state and the federal government are expected to work out the modalities of the new police force that will cater for the security needs of each state of the federation.

According to the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, the central government reached an agreement in principle with the governors on Thursday.

Mr Tinubu and the governors met in Abuja on Thursday, where plans for ending the country’s worsening insecurity were discussed, with a consensus reached to establish state police, putting a stop to long-running disagreements and controversy about the issue that lasted for years.

Speaking with journalists after the meeting, Mr Idris disclosed that the agreement, which was still at its early stage, had become necessary due to the extreme level of insecurity and kidnappings currently plaguing the country.

“Both the federal and state governments agree on the necessity of having state police,” the minister told journalists on Thursday. “Now, this is a significant shift. But as I said, more work needs to be done in that direction.”

Mr Idris stated that the government at both national and state levels still needed to work out the modalities of the agreement before implementation.

“A lot of meetings will have to happen between the Federal Government and the sub-nationals to see the modalities of achieving this. Now, these are some of the issues that have been discussed.”