Video: Tinubu sends constitutional amendment to Senate to create State Police

Abdullateef Fowewe

President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday forwarded a constitutional amendment bill to the National Assembly seeking legal authority for the establishment of state police forces across Nigeria.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio said the Senate will take up the bill tomorrow, and added that state Houses of Assembly have pledged to review the legislation on the same day it reaches them, a commitment Akpabio described as a sign of accelerated national effort to reform the country’s security architecture.

The proposal aims to decentralise policing to give state governments legal power to deploy local armed forces for faster responses to rising insecurity and community-specific threats.

Some supporters argue state police will improve intelligence, reduce response times, and complement federal security agencies.

But lawmakers and civil society leaders have also stressed the need for robust accountability and oversight provisions in the amendment to guard against politicisation or misuse of state security forces by governors.

The major points flagged for debate include command-and-control arrangements, funding responsibilities, checks-from-state assemblies, and coordination mechanisms with the Nigeria Police Force.

However, the Senate will consider the bill tomorrow, followed by transmission to state assemblies for concurrent review.

If approved by two-thirds of each chamber and by a majority of state assemblies, the amendment would proceed to presidential assent and subsequent implementing legislation.