The House of Representatives has adopted the report on the establishment of state police and approved 18 constitutional amendment clauses.
The report was adopted during Thursday’s plenary session presided over by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas. 287 members of the House voted in favor of the proposal, while two stood against it.
The approved clauses formed part of recommendations considered by lawmakers during deliberations on constitutional amendments aimed at strengthening governance, security, and institutional effectiveness across the country.
The cheery news comes on the heels of a recent disclosure by the presidency that significant progress had been made towards establishing state police, with a constitutional amendment expected soon, following months of consultations among the Executive, the National Assembly and security authorities.
The statement added that discussions had advanced to the point of considering the necessary constitutional amendments, with the enabling legislation to follow afterwards.
“Right now, what we are looking at is the constitutional amendment itself, and then the enabling law would follow thereafter. That is what we have been deliberating on in the last couple of hours,” the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, was quoted to have stated on the matter.
With the action by the lawmakers, the agenda for state police has received boost.
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The Inspector General of Police, IG, Tunji Disu, had earlier indicated proposing a robust roadmap for the actualization of the project.
The framework, which he said, had been submitted to the National Assembly, as part of the efforts to decentralize policing and strengthen internal security, contains a bold funding structure, a 60-month phased implementation template, beginning with constitutional amendments within the first year, as well as mechanisms against abuse of the initiative by political office holders and interest groups.
Among the key recommendations in the document is that about 60 per cent of the existing police personnel would move to state police, while 40 per cent would remain within the federal structure.
Central to the proposal is the creation of a constitutionally guaranteed State Police Fund, which will draw three per cent of the Federation Account allocation, alongside a mandatory minimum contribution of 15 per cent from each state’s security budget. The funding model is designed to ensure transparency, sustainability, and operational independence of state police commands.
The framework further outlines a two-tier policing structure that will effectively restructure Nigeria’s security system into a Federal Police Service, FPS, and 37 State Police Services, including the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
While the FPS would focus on issues of national security as terrorism, interstate crime, and protection of federal assets, state police formations would deal with localized crimes, including armed robbery, homicide, domestic violence, and community-level intelligence gathering.
CENTURYHERALD
