Abuja: The Senate on Wednesday, expeditiously passed the State Police Bill which sought to move Nigeria from a unitary policing structure to a federal policing mode. The passage of the bill followed the clause by clause consideration of the bill by the committee of the whole of the Senate. The bill is entitled: ‘A bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic Nigeria, 1999 to Provide for State Police and Related Matters, 2026’.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the report of the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, chaired by the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, the bill allows states to create their own police services, subject to national minimum standards and constitutional safeguards and federal oversight in defined exceptional circumstances. The bill represents one of the most significant institutional reforms proposed in the current constitutional review cycle. Its core objective is to move Nigeria from a unitary policing structure to a federal policing model that allows states to create their own police services. This restructuring of national security and policing frameworks is a key thematic area the committee has presented to Nigerians as a matter of serious national importance, fulfilling its mandate to propose constitutional amendments that enhance national security and promote effective governance.
Earlier, while presenting the lead debate, Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele stated that the bill was an Executive Bill transmitted by President Bola Tinubu seeking to alter the Constitution to provide for the establishment of State Police Services and other related matters. He emphasized that the bill represented one of the most significant constitutional reforms in Nigeria’s democratic evolution. It addresses a long-standing national conversation on the structure, effectiveness, responsiveness, and sustainability of policing in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Given Nigeria’s vast federation comprising 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory with diverse cultures, languages, geographical terrains, security dynamics, and socio-economic conditions, the existing policing framework faces pressure from increasing security threats, including terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, communal conflicts, farmer-herder clashes, cybercrime, organized criminal networks, and other transnational crimes.
In his remarks, Senate President, Godswill Akpabio expressed optimism, stating, “It is my prayer that Nigerians will become safer and that the challenges of kidnapping, banditry, and terrorism will not only be minimized but reduced to the barest minimum. I am confident that Nigeria shall overcome terrorism and banditry and so shall it be.”