The Federal Government has appointed a professor at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Emmanuel Olukemi Rotimi, as a member of the Policy Advisory Committee supporting the Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill.
Rotimi was selected because of his academic research on the history and development of policing in Nigeria, particularly his work on the country’s former decentralised police systems.
According to Nigerian Tribune, the proposed National Policing Bill is expected to provide a legal framework for the operation of both Federal and State Police Services.
The Presidential Working Group is chaired by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.
The group has seven weeks to prepare a draft of the proposed legislation and submit it to the Federal Ministry of Justice.
The Policy Advisory Committee is headed by retired Justice Mohammed Abdullahi Liman.
The committee is responsible for providing policy guidance, directing the drafting process and reviewing the proposed Bill before it is finalised.
Rotimi is a professor in the Department of History at Obafemi Awolowo University and has spent several years researching Nigeria’s policing system.
His academic work has examined the development of policing under colonial and post-colonial governments, as well as the challenges faced by local police institutions.
His master’s research focused on the Native Administration Police Forces in Western Nigeria between 1905 and 1951.
He later conducted doctoral research on Native Administration Police Forces across Nigeria from 1900 to 1970.
Rotimi is also the author of The Police in a Federal State: The Nigerian Experience, published in 2001.
The book examined the origin, organisation and development of Native Authority and Local Government police forces before they were eventually abolished.
