The House of Representatives will on Thursday vote on a constitutional amendment bill to establish state police across Nigeria, marking a significant step toward decentralising the country’s security architecture.
Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, who also chairs the House Committee on Constitution Review, disclosed this on Wednesday while addressing journalists in Abuja.
He urged all lawmakers to attend Thursday’s plenary session to ensure full participation in the vote.Under the current 1999 Constitution, policing and other security services are exclusively reserved for the federal government under Section 214.
The proposed amendment seeks to move this item to the concurrent list, empowering both the National Assembly and state houses of assembly to make laws on police and related security matters.
Flanked by members of the constitution amendment panel, Kalu emphasised that the legislature is determined to use constitutional tools to tackle the nation’s worsening insecurity.
“Hope is coming. By tomorrow, we will be amending the constitution by prioritising state police. We will vote on state police. Nobody is stopping it,” he declared.
The push for state police has gained renewed momentum amid a recent surge in banditry, kidnapping, and other violent crimes across the country.
On Tuesday, the House summoned service chiefs and National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu over the spike in insecurity.
President Bola Tinubu had in December expressed confidence that state police would significantly improve security nationwide by enabling faster local responses to threats.
For the bill to pass, it requires a two-thirds majority in both chambers of the National Assembly at least 73 senators and 240 members of the House of Representatives and subsequent ratification by a simple majority in at least 24 of the 36 state houses of assembly.
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