June 14, (THEWILL) — Nigeria’s security architecture is on the verge of being altered justly in response to persistent terrorism, kidnapping and banditry across the country. Towards this end, the House of Representatives and the Senate took a historic step in proposing legislation to establish State Police across the federation.
The House passed a constitutional amendment bill and approved 18 constitutional alteration clauses aimed at strengthening governance, security and institutional effectiveness. The bill has passed second reading in the Senate.
Security experts and stakeholders who have long advocated legislation to strengthen the country’s security structure have hailed the move as long overdue, while canvassing that attention be paid to some grey areas in the legislation to create room for the emergence of a robust law.
A professional security expert and Managing Director of Beacon Security Limited, Dr. Kabiru Adamu, hailed the authorities for recognising the strong political momentum and practical necessity for state police, “especially given the adaptive threats we face from insurgency and banditry, kidnappings and farmer-herder conflicts.”
Speaking to THEWILL on Friday, he said that local knowledge, faster response times, and improved grassroots intelligence are real advantages if the structures for state policing are designed and resourced correctly.
“The bill, as passed by the House of Representatives, has gone a long way to assuage some of our concerns. However, there remain legitimate fears that are rooted in Nigeria’s governance realities and the history of security institutions being weaponised or under-resourced. Yes, the concerns have been partially but not yet sufficiently addressed by the guardrails inserted in the bill. The bill introduces important framework safeguards that directly speak to some of the risks,” he said.
Explaining further, he listed some of these safeguards that are very important components of the bill to include:
• No state police formation can commence operations until it is established by a law passed by the relevant State House of Assembly and certified as meeting national minimum standards prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly. This certification requirement, backed by the Federal Police Service Commission’s oversight role, is a critical guardrail against the creation of substandard or rogue forces.
• The mechanism allowing a State Commissioner of Police to refer a directive by a governor that he or she considers unlawful or inconsistent with professional policing standards to the Nigeria Police Council, whose decision is final and binding, which provides a meaningful check against blatant political abuse.
• Federal intervention in state policing matters is now constitutionally limited to cases of complete breakdown of law and order, upon a governor’s request, or where a state force is incapacitated by administrative, financial, or operational challenges.
• The bill also provides for the regulation of equipment, forensic systems, biometric databases, and information-sharing, areas that can help address equipment standardisation and interoperability if properly implemented.
“These are genuine improvements over the previous unitary structure and reflect lessons from years of advocacy for decentralised, intelligence-driven, and community-responsive policing.
“This respects federalism while retaining a national backstop,” he said.
Executive Director of Rule of Law, Advocacy and Accountability Centre, RULAAC, Okechukwu Nwanguma, who has been advocating for a decentralized policing structure as part of broader security sector reforms aimed at making policing more effective, accountable, responsive, and community-oriented, said, the proposed constitutional provisions represent a significant shift from the current centralized policing system and contain some important safeguards designed to balance the autonomy of State Police with the need to preserve national security and constitutional order.
In a note to THEWILL, he said, “Particularly noteworthy is the provision limiting federal intervention in State Police operations to clearly defined circumstances, namely where there is a complete breakdown of law and order beyond the capacity of the State Police, where intervention is requested by the Governor, or where a State Police service becomes unable to function effectively.
“The requirement that such an intervention receive prior approval from the National Police Council provides an additional institutional safeguard against arbitrary federal interference in state security affairs.
“RULAAC also notes the effort to establish parallel chains of command for Federal and State Police Services while subjecting appointments of both the Inspector-General of Police and State Commissioners of Police to confirmation by elected legislative bodies. This arrangement potentially enhances democratic oversight and legitimacy.”
AREAS OF CONCERNS
Publicly expressed anxieties and doubts about the necessity of state police do not bother renowned professor of political economy and public affairs analyst, Anthony Kila, because, according to him, there are bound to be imperfections about the bill, like any piece of legislation or policy. What matters is that the fears and views of the people are taken into consideration during the making of policies.
“Which means those with clarity of mind that can point out the errors and are ready to offer corrections should be engaged in offering solutions and ensuring completion of any public policy,” he told THEWILL in a brief interview on Friday. “That is why I think that state policing is a helpful tool in the fight against terrorism. To defeat terrorism, however, Nigeria needs a superior force. Terrorists are waging war against the country, and they need to be handled like adversarial enemies who must be crushed.”
Dr Adamu described the constitutional amendment as a necessary foundation, but it is not sufficient on its own. Success, he argued, will be determined by the quality and speed of the implementing legislation, particularly the National Assembly’s Act prescribing detailed minimum standards, and the political will to enforce professionalism, independence, and accountability at both federal and state levels.
According to him, significant gaps in the bill remain, meaning that the core fears have not been fully allayed. He listed these fears to include abuse and politicisation. According to him, while the referral mechanism to the Nigeria Police Council is welcome, its effectiveness will depend entirely on the independence, composition, and resourcing of that body, as well as the detailed rules in the forthcoming National Minimum Standards Act and state-level legislation.
He maintains that without strong, independent State Police Service Commissions (with civil society, professional, and retired judicial representation) and robust, accessible complaints and accountability mechanisms, the risk of governors using state police against political opponents or for narrow interests persists.
Financing: The bill leaves primary funding responsibility to the states through their own laws, he contends.
He said that given the stark disparities in state revenues and fiscal capacity, this is a major unresolved vulnerability. Underfunded forces risk becoming ineffective, corrupt, or reliant on informal/illegal revenue sources. “The bill’s recognition of ‘financial challenges’ as a trigger for federal intervention is pragmatic but reactive.”
“We need proactive, sustainable funding architecture, potentially including performance-linked federal grants or dedicated mechanisms, to prevent a two-tier system where some states have professional forces, and others have token or predatory ones,” he said.
• Equipment and operational capacity: He argued that National minimum standards can (and should) cover equipment specifications, training curricula, recruitment standards, use-of-force protocols, ammunition accountability, and technological capabilities.
“This is positive. However, standards on paper do not automatically translate into acquisition, maintenance, or equitable access. Poorer states will face real difficulties procuring and sustaining quality equipment, vehicles, communications, and forensics without technical and material support. We must also guard against the proliferation risks that come with poorly controlled arms and ammunition in multiple state forces,” he said.
“What is now required is deliberate, inclusive work to craft robust minimum standards that cover merit-based recruitment, rigorous and rights-respecting training, clear command and tenure protections for commissioners, strict arms accountability, intelligence-sharing protocols with federal agencies, and genuine community policing orientation,” he noted, adding, “We also need a realistic funding and capacity-support framework, particularly for states with limited resources, and stronger integration into a coherent national security architecture.”
The creation of State Police alone will not automatically resolve the challenges of insecurity, police misconduct, impunity, corruption, political interference and weak accountability that currently affect law enforcement in Nigeria, according to Okechukwu of RULAAC.
Without robust safeguards, State Police could become vulnerable to abuse by state-level political actors in much the same way that the Federal Police has often been influenced by federal political interests.
To mitigate these risks, he emphasises the importance of strong constitutional and statutory guarantees of operational independence and professionalism; Independent police complaints and accountability mechanisms at both federal and state levels; Transparent recruitment, promotion and disciplinary systems; Effective civilian oversight involving State Houses of Assembly, Police Service Commissions, the National Human Rights Commission, civil society organizations and community representatives; Clear safeguards against the use of State Police for partisan political purposes, electoral manipulation, suppression of dissent, or persecution of minorities and vulnerable groups; Adequate funding, training, equipment and welfare arrangements to ensure professionalism and reduce corruption and strict adherence to constitutional human rights standards, including protections against torture, arbitrary arrest, unlawful detention, extrajudicial killings and other abuses.
“RULAAC maintains that the success of State Police will depend not merely on constitutional provisions but on the strength of accountability institutions, respect for the rule of law, transparency in operations and meaningful citizen participation in policing governance,” he said.
“The ultimate objective should be to create police institutions – whether federal or state – that serve the people, protect rights, uphold the law, and earn public trust through professionalism, effectiveness, and accountability.”
Adviser to Sokoto State Governor Ahmad Aliyu on Security Matters, Col. Ahmed Usman (Retd), welcomed the legislation as long overdue, arguing that a decentralised police force would enhance “ intelligence gathering, deepen community engagement, and ensure faster responses to security threats.”
He urged the authorities to discard the idea of fresh recruitment of personnel and consider redeploying serving police officers to their states of origin, because understanding local languages, cultures, terrain, and security dynamics is key to effective maintenance of law and order across the country.
“Officers serving across the country should be redeployed to their states of origin, where they already understand the environment and the people. That knowledge is critical to effective policing and intelligence gathering,” he said, and added that states which experience “manpower shortages should be permitted to recruit additional personnel to bridge identified gaps.”
THE PROPOSED BILL BY NASS
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 and for Related Matters (Sixth Alteration) Bill, 2026,” the House approved the bill during plenary presided over by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, on Wednesday, June 10, 2026.
The House adopted the report on the proposed establishment of state police during consideration of recommendations presented by the House Committee on Constitution Review, chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Benjamin Kalu.
Presenting the report, Kalu urged lawmakers to support the proposal, arguing that a decentralised policing framework had become necessary to effectively address Nigeria’s increasingly complex security challenges and improve response to criminal activities at the grassroots.
Following debate on the report, voting was conducted manually at the Committee of the Whole, with members raising their hands to indicate their positions.
At the end of the exercise, 289 lawmakers voted in favour of the bill, one member abstained, while no lawmaker voted against it, demonstrating overwhelming bipartisan support for the constitutional amendment.
The House also approved 18 constitutional amendment clauses as part of the broader constitutional review exercise aimed at reforming critical aspects of governance and public administration. On Thursday, June 11, 2027, the bill passed second reading before the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, referred it to the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution for more critical examination.
A central feature of the state police bill is the proposed amendment of Sections 84, 214, and 215 of the 1999 Constitution to formally establish both Federal Police and State Police formations. A completely new section 216 has been added to the proposed amendments.
Under the proposed framework, the National Assembly would retain authority to prescribe the structure, organisation, administration, and powers of the Federal Police while also setting minimum standards and legal requirements for the establishment and operation of state police services nationwide.
The bill stipulates that no state police formation can commence operations unless it is created through legislation enacted by the relevant State House of Assembly and certified as meeting nationally prescribed minimum standards.
It further provides that until any state police force becomes operational, the Federal Police shall continue to exercise policing responsibilities within that state.
In what appears to be an attempt to balance decentralisation with national oversight, the bill limits the circumstances under which the Federal Police may intervene in the affairs of state police formations.
According to the proposal, federal intervention would only occur in situations involving a complete breakdown of law and order, upon the request of a state governor, or where a state police force becomes unable to function due to administrative, financial, or operational challenges.
The amendment also introduces significant reforms to the police command structure and appointment process.
DETAILS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL ALTERATIONS
Under the proposed changes to Section 214, the amended bill states that the National Assembly shall by an Act prescribe for the structure, organisation, administration and powers of the Federal Police and provide the framework and guidelines for the establishment of State Police and that no State Police shall commence operational policing unless it has been established by a Law of the House of Assembly of the State and certified as meeting national minimum standards in the manner prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly. It defined the role of the Federal and State Police.
On Federal Police, the amendment states that it shall “Be responsible for the maintenance of public security, preservation of public order and security of persons and property throughout the Federation to the extent provided for under this Constitution or by an Act of the National Assembly; and be responsible for the maintenance of public security, preservation of public order and security of persons and property within a State to the extent that the State has power to make laws under this.
For the state Police, its states that, “Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Federal Police shall not interfere with the operations of any State Police of the internal security affairs of a State except to contain serious threats to public order where it is shown that there is a complete breakdown of law and order within a State and the State Police is unable to contain the threat,” or “Where the Governor of a State requests the intervention of the Federal Police to prevent or contain a breakdown of law and order in the State.”
The proposed changes for Article 215 of the Constitution state that the Inspector-General of Police would be appointed by the President based on the advice of the National Police Council and subject to confirmation by the National Assembly.
Similarly, State Commissioners of Police would be appointed by governors on the advice of the National Police Council from among serving officers of the respective state police formations and confirmed by their State Houses of Assembly.
The bill empowers governors to issue lawful directives to State Commissioners of Police on matters relating to public safety and maintenance of law and order.
However, where a commissioner believes such directives are unlawful or inconsistent with established policing standards, the matter may be referred to the National Police Council, whose decision would be final.
The legislation also amends Section 84 of the Constitution by replacing references to the “Nigeria Police Council and the Police Service Commission” with the “National Police Council and the Federal Police Service Commission.” Also, “Nigeria Police Force” would be replaced with “Federal Police and State Police.”
The news section would deal with the discipline and removal of the IGP and the Commissioner of Police of a state.
The proposal reads: “An Inspector General of Police shall be removed by the President upon the recommendation of the National Police Council praying that he be so removed on any of the following grounds: Grave misconduct in the discharge of his official duties; breach of Police Act, Regulation, Code and Code of Conduct; conviction of any offence involving fraud or dishonesty by a court of law or tribunal; bankruptcy; or mental incapacity.” Removal of the IGP would require a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly.
In similar circumstances, the Commissioner of Police of a State, “Shall only be removed by the Governor upon the recommendation of the National Police Council praying that he be so removed on any of the following grounds: Grave misconduct in the performance of his official duties; breach of policing standards, law, regulation, code, and code of conduct.”
The NASS approval reflects growing consensus among federal lawmakers, state governors, and stakeholders that Nigeria’s current centrally controlled policing system requires reforms to meet contemporary security realities.
Amos Esele is the Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
