By Joy Yesufu
The House of Representatives on Thursday passed the Executive Bill seeking to establish state police, bringing Nigeria a step closer to adopting a decentralised policing system aimed at tackling the country’s growing security challenges.
The bill was approved during plenary after lawmakers withdrew an earlier constitutional amendment proposal sponsored by the House for the Executive Bill transmitted by President Bola Tinubu.
Its passage follows the Senate’s approval of the same constitutional amendment, signalling significant progress towards creating a dual policing structure that would allow state-controlled police services to operate alongside the Nigeria Police Force.
A total of 311 lawmakers participated in the voting process, with 276 members voting physically in the chamber and 35 others participating virtually.
Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, announced the result after members adopted the report of the House Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu.
The legislation, 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 Services and for Related Matters (HB. 2797),” seeks to amend the Constitution to permit the establishment of state police services while retaining the Nigeria Police Force as the national policing institution.
President Tinubu had forwarded the Executive Bill to the National Assembly last week, explaining that it builds on previous legislative efforts while introducing additional safeguards to ensure accountability, professionalism and effective coordination under a dual policing framework.
According to the President, the proposed amendment is designed to strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture and improve the country’s capacity to respond to evolving threats, including banditry, kidnapping, terrorism and other violent crimes.
To pave the way for the Executive Bill, the House rescinded its June 11, 2026, resolution on an earlier state police amendment and dissolved the 12-member conference committee constituted on July 9 to harmonise previous versions of the proposal.
Lawmakers subsequently adopted the Executive-backed version, which is expected to provide a more comprehensive constitutional framework for implementing state police once the amendment process is concluded.
The establishment of state police has remained one of Nigeria’s most contentious constitutional reforms, with proponents arguing that decentralising policing will enhance intelligence gathering, strengthen community policing, improve response times and enable states to address their peculiar security challenges more effectively.
However, critics have repeatedly expressed concerns that state police could be abused by state governments for political purposes, underscoring the need for robust constitutional safeguards to guarantee operational independence, accountability and respect for human rights.
If eventually ratified by the required number of state Houses of Assembly and assented to by the President, the amendment will mark one of the most significant reforms to Nigeria’s policing system since the country’s return to democratic rule in 1999.
