The House of Representatives has approved the Executive Bill seeking to establish state police across Nigeria, marking another major step toward restructuring the country’s security system.
The bill was passed during Thursday’s plenary after lawmakers withdrew their earlier constitutional amendment proposal on state police and adopted the version forwarded to the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu.
The development came shortly after the Senate approved the same proposal, meaning both chambers of the National Assembly have now supported the move to create a policing structure that would allow federal and state security forces to operate side by side.
The proposed amendment seeks to modify sections of the 1999 Constitution to provide a legal foundation for states to establish and manage their own police services alongside the Nigeria Police Force.
Supporters of state police argue that decentralising security operations would improve intelligence gathering, allow faster responses to criminal activities, and help state governments tackle local security challenges more effectively.
However, opponents of the reform have raised concerns that state police could be abused by state governors for political purposes without proper safeguards to prevent misuse.
The proposal still has additional constitutional requirements to complete before becoming law. It must receive approval from the required number of state Houses of Assembly before it can be forwarded to the President for final assent.
The move follows years of calls from governors, lawmakers, security experts, and civil society groups for a more decentralised policing system, with advocates arguing that Nigeria’s current federal policing structure has struggled to effectively address terrorism, kidnapping, banditry, armed robbery, and other security threats.
President Tinubu has previously expressed support for state police, stating that states need greater authority and capacity to respond to security issues within their territories.
If approved through the remaining constitutional amendment stages, the establishment of state police would represent one of the biggest changes to Nigeria’s security framework since independence.
