House of Representatives Passes State Police Bill; Senate Advances It to Second Reading
On Thursday, the House of Representatives took a major step toward amending the Nigerian Constitution by passing a bill to establish state police nationwide, reshaping the country’s security...
On Thursday, the House of Representatives took a major step toward amending the Nigerian Constitution by passing a bill to establish state police nationwide, reshaping the country’s security framework and responding to long-standing calls to decentralise policing.
The House, in a plenary session presided over by the Speaker, Rt Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, had a majority vote in support of the bill titled “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to Provide for the Establishment of State Police and for Related Matters (Sixth Alteration) Bill, 2026″.
The representatives commenced the voting on the constitution review following the presentation of the report on the proposal for state policing by the Deputy Speaker of the House, who is also the Chairman of the House Committee on Constitution Review, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, who urged his colleagues to support the bill to address the growing insecurity in the country.
The voting exercise, which was conducted manually with members raising their hands to indicate their position, ended with 289 lawmakers voting in support of the bill, while one voted against it, and no lawmaker abstained, reflecting the backing of the lawmakers for the legislation.
Announcing the outcome of the voting, the Speaker said the “House considered the report of the bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended to provide for the establishment of the state police and for related matters and, in so doing, approve the bill.”
Designed to improve public safety and strengthen law enforcement, one of the key functions of the bill is to “provide for state police existing alongside the federal police and outline a constitutional framework for states that choose to establish and maintain their own police service. The bill further aims to clarify the scope of the powers/responsibilities of the federal and state police and to provide for their funding and oversight.”
A part of the bill also “outlines the functions of the Federal Police; empowers the National Assembly to make law(s) to prescribe the structure, organisation, administration, and powers of the Federal Police; and provides a framework and guidelines for the establishment of State Police for the States.
“The proposed amendment further makes provisions expressly forbidding the Federal Police from interfering with the operations of any State Police or the internal security affairs of a state save in certain instances, such as to contain severe threats to public order where it is shown that there is a complete breakdown of law and order within a state which the state police is unable to handle or where the Governor of a state requests the intervention of the Federal Police to prevent or contain a breakdown of law and order in the state. It is worth noting that any intervention in such instances shall only be effective with the approval of a two-thirds majority of the Senate.”
The bill aims to safeguard the independence of state police forces and prevent excessive federal interference, restricting federal involvement in the internal security matters of states. The proposal allows for the Federal Police to intervene only if there is a complete breakdown of law and order, if a governor requests it, or if a state police force is unable to function due to administrative, financial or operational problems.
The proposed amendment to Section 215 of the Constitution will allow the President to appoint the Inspector-General of Police on the advice of the Nigeria Police Council from among serving members of the Federal Police, subject to confirmation by the National Assembly.
Similarly, a governor would appoint a State Commissioner of Police on the recommendation of the Nigeria Police Council from among serving officers of the State Police, subject to confirmation by the State House of Assembly.
The bill empowers the governors to issue lawful directions to the state commissioners of police on matters relating to public safety and maintenance of law and order. However, where the commissioner considers such directions to be unlawful or not in conformity with accepted standards of policing, the case may be referred to the Nigeria Police Council, whose decision shall be final.
The proposal also changes Section 84 of the Constitution, replacing references to the “National Police Council and the Federal Police Service Commission” with “Nigeria Police Council and the Police Service Commission”.
State Police Bill Passes Second Reading in the Senate
While the lower chamber has passed the state police bill into law, the Senate has also scaled the bill through the second reading today, indicating the uniformity in the activities of the two chambers of the National Assembly.
The development came during the Senate plenary session presided over by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, who referred the bill to the Senate ad hoc committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution for further legislative scrutiny.
Leading the debate, the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, said the establishment of state police remained a critical reform to strengthen Nigeria’s internal security architecture against the backdrop of growing concerns over the capacity of the Nigeria Police Force to effectively address emerging threats.
“The establishment of state police will improve intelligence gathering: local police officers are better equipped to obtain actionable intelligence from communities because they understand local languages, customs and social structures.
“Modern policing relies heavily on intelligence rather than force. State Police will significantly strengthen Nigeria’s intelligence architecture,” he said
He said Nigeria continued to grapple with a wide range of security challenges, including terrorism and violent extremism, banditry, mass abductions, farmer-herder conflicts, cultism, armed robbery, pipeline vandalism, communal clashes and cyber-enabled crimes.
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