The Nigerian Senate is pushing to fast track the remaining legislative and constitutional steps towards the creation of a new state police, after lawmakers restarted legislative activities upon approval of the new bill by the National Assembly to amend the constitution in this regard.
The renewed push comes hot on the heels of the Senate’s passage of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Alteration) (State Police) Bill, 2026, the long overdue bill to separate police services from the Federation’s various states, establishing a State Police Service alongside a redefined Federal Police Service.
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The Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, stated the proposal has the support of the Nation while he said it was one of the major security concerns of the Senate.
He said Nigeria’s failure was intentional to speed consideration of the bill that aimed to introduce a more localised policing structure in the country because of the increasing sense of urgency to deal with the increasingly chaotic security tides rocking the country.
In this proposed arrangement, the State Governors would appoint Commissioners of Police who would be confirmed in office by the respective State Houses of Assembly, while the Federal Police Service would have constitutional powers to intervene in cases where threats to national security exist, public order is lost or the use of state policing powers is abused by any state.
Advances by the legislation also provide protections against state police tools being wielded politically.
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The amendment has passed the National Assembly now moving to the 24 of the 36 State House of Assembly for approval before it is sent to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his assent, as is constitutionally enshrined in the amendment process.
Backers of the measure say that the state police will help in better functioning of collecting intelligence information from the community, better response to any sort of security threat, and better community policing.
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Some stakeholders, however, have reiterated the need for effective oversight mechanisms to avoid political meddling and respect for fundamental rights.
