What The State Police Bill Contains Will Surprise Many Nigerians

Nigeria moved a step closer to establishing state police on Wednesday after the Senate passed the Constitution Alteration Bill aimed at decentralising the country’s policing structure.

The development marks a major milestone in a long-running national debate over security, amid growing concerns about terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, communal clashes and other violent crimes across the country.

With the Senate’s approval coming after the House of Representatives had earlier endorsed the proposal, attention now shifts to the 36 state Houses of Assembly. For the constitutional amendment to take effect, it must secure the backing of at least 24 state legislatures before being transmitted to President Bola Tinubu for assent.

If eventually enacted, the measure would represent one of the most far-reaching constitutional reforms since Nigeria’s return to democratic governance in 1999, fundamentally reshaping the nation’s security architecture.

At the very center of the reform is a key provision that empowers state governors to appoint Commissioners of Police for their respective territories, subject to official confirmation by the state Houses of Assembly.

This structural change is detailed under Clause 17 of the proposed constitutional amendment, which states: “while the Federal Police Service will continue to be headed by the Inspector-General of Police, each State Police Service shall be headed by a Commissioner of Police appointed by the governor and confirmed by the legislature of the state.”

This framework effectively establishes a dual policing structure, allowing state police formations to operate concurrently alongside existing federal police authorities.

The Senate approved the historic bill after considering a comprehensive report from the Senate Committee on the Review of the Constitution, which was presented on the floor by the Deputy Senate President and committee chairman, Barau Jibrin. The provisions were first deliberated upon by lawmakers in the Committee of the Whole before they adopted the clauses and proceeded to a final vote.

Leading the debate on the legislation, Senate Leader Senator Opeyemi Bamidele described the proposal as a carefully designed framework aimed at balancing local policing autonomy with national cohesion.

He said: “The bill is intended to retain the Nigeria Police Force for federal policing duties while providing for the establishment of state police services in states that choose to adopt them.”

Bamidele further explained that the proposed structure clearly delineates the separate responsibilities of the federal and state police services. Under this arrangement, state police forces will be strictly responsible for enforcing state laws, maintaining public safety and public order, preventing and detecting local crimes, protecting lives and property, and carrying out other localized policing duties.

Conversely, the federal police will remain in charge of protecting federal institutions, counter-terrorism, combating organized crime and cybercrime, managing border security, stopping arms trafficking, addressing interstate criminal activities, and handling other overarching national security matters.

The Senate Leader also clarified the specific conditions under which federal police authorities would be legally permitted to intervene in security situations within any state. According to Bamidele, federal intervention will only occur where there “is outright breakdown of public order at a specific subnational entity; when state police are incapable of functioning; when there is serious violation of fundamental rights; when there is an established record of electoral intimidation and when national security is under threat.”

He emphasized that any such intervention would strictly require written authorization from the President and Commander-in-Chief, and would remain subject to continuous Senate oversight and judicial review.

This strict delineation of powers was one of several safeguards introduced by lawmakers to directly address long-standing concerns that state governors could abuse local police formations for political purposes.

Historically, the fear that state police could become instruments of intimidation against political opposition figures, critics, and civil society groups has been one of the strongest arguments against decentralized policing in Nigeria. To mitigate these risks, senators inserted explicit anti-abuse provisions into the text of the constitutional amendment.

One of the primary safeguards adopted provides that “a state Commissioner of Police shall not arrest, detain, investigate or deploy force against any person, political party or group merely for criticising the government except in accordance with the law.” This specific provision is expected to serve as a vital constitutional shield against politically motivated arrests and the abuse of executive power.

Furthermore, the lawmakers proposed that the National Assembly will retain the ultimate powers to prescribe minimum national standards for these new services. These federal guidelines will cover recruitment, training, vetting, promotion, discipline, the use of force, firearms management, complaints procedures, accountability mechanisms, data management, and professional conduct.

Bamidele added that the framework generally seeks “to balance local policing autonomy with national cohesion, accountability with operational effectiveness and federal oversight with state responsibility. The bill provides robust safeguards against abuse, preserves federal authority where necessary, protects constitutional rights and creates a modern policing framework capable of addressing contemporary security challenges.”

The state police proposal has remained one of the most contentious constitutional issues since the advent of the Fourth Republic, with supporters arguing that a highly centralized arrangement is inadequate for a federation of more than 200 million people.

Advocates maintain that officers recruited locally will possess a much better understanding of their immediate environment, language, culture, and security dynamics, which will significantly improve intelligence gathering and crime prevention. They also contend that state governments, which already spend billions of naira supporting federal security agencies, deserve direct control over policing within their territories.

On the other hand, critics have repeatedly warned that powerful governors could easily deploy state police to settle personal political scores, intimidate rivals, and unfairly influence local elections, which is why previous amendment attempts routinely stalled.

The weight of Wednesday’s vote was reflected in the unusual voting process adopted by the lawmakers. The Senate was initially scheduled to utilize its electronic voting system for the constitutional amendment exercise. However, sudden technical glitches affecting several electronic voting devices forced the leadership to abandon the automated plan to ensure no lawmaker was left out.

Moving a motion on the floor, Senate Leader Bamidele argued: “Rather than go by way of electronic voting, which obviously now will disenfranchise a few or some of our colleagues whose machines are not working, I am moving that we allow every distinguished senator to answer his or her father’s name by doing manual voting.”

This was endorsed by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

He said, “For transparency, and the need for the constituents to know where you stand on every issue, it is good for us to go into manual voting.”

To facilitate the individual public declarations, the Senate suspended the relevant provisions of its Standing Rules through a swift voice vote, calling each senator forward one by one to declare their position on the clause-by-clause consideration of the bill. The exercise attracted several top government officials and state executives who watched the proceedings intently from the gallery, including Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani, Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, and the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.

The bill must now scale another critical hurdle before it can receive presidential assent and be implemented. Under the Nigerian Constitution, any amendment to the Constitution requires the approval of at least two-thirds of the 36 state Houses of Assembly. As a result, the future of state policing will largely depend on the support of lawmakers across the states.