Nigeria is edging closer to decentralised policing, with 30 State Houses of Assembly now backing the constitutional amendment required to establish state police, while the Presidency seeks private sector support to develop a financing and implementation plan for the proposed system.
The latest endorsements bring the number of approving state legislatures above the constitutional threshold of 24 out of 36 states required for an amendment to proceed. The remaining steps include collating the state endorsements and transmitting the bill through the National Assembly to President Bola Tinubu for assent.
The Lagos, Niger, Kogi and Ebonyi State Houses of Assembly approved the proposal on Wednesday, bringing the total to 30.
At the same time, the Presidency has asked the Organised Private Sector to develop a blueprint for financing and implementing the proposed policing system, arguing that insecurity imposes substantial costs on businesses through abandoned investments, delayed expansion and disrupted commercial activities.
Chief of Staff to the President and Chairman of the Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill, Femi Gbajabiamila, made the appeal during a plenary session on security, stability and economic resilience at the 32nd Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja.
Gbajabiamila said businesses had compelling reasons to support the reform because security challenges extend beyond the protection of company premises to workers, suppliers and surrounding communities.
“A company can reinforce its perimeter. Its workers still have to travel home, and its suppliers still have to move through the surrounding communities.
“Your long-term security depends on the strength of public institutions beyond your gates,” he said.
He urged the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, chambers of commerce and business associations to propose practical arrangements for funding, institutional management and accountable partnerships.
“I therefore ask the NESG to carry this engagement beyond our meeting. Bring forward a considered private sector contribution on financing and implementing state police, with practical proposals for accountable partnerships.
“Take that work into the legislative process and into your engagement with state governments,” Gbajabiamila said.
He also encouraged business leaders to engage governors and lawmakers, contribute expertise in expenditure control and risk assessment, and identify security gaps that discourage investment.
However, he cautioned that private sector involvement must not undermine police independence. Any support for communications infrastructure, equipment maintenance and financial planning, he said, must be transparent and subject to independent scrutiny.
“Where businesses provide resources, those contributions need published accounts and independent scrutiny.
“Public funding must remain dependable, and a donation must never purchase influence over an investigation or preferential treatment,” he said.
Gbajabiamila added that states seeking to establish their own police services must demonstrate the financial capacity to sustain them beyond the initial purchase of vehicles, uniforms and equipment.
Such commitments would include regular payment of salaries, professional training and operational maintenance. Without adequate funding, he warned, state police could become vulnerable to private influence and unlawful demands on citizens.
He assured that federal policing would remain available to states that were not financially or institutionally prepared to establish their own services.
30 assemblies endorse amendment
Providing an update on the reform, Gbajabiamila said 24 State Houses of Assembly had approved the constitutional amendment as of October 23, meeting the required threshold at that point. Six additional states have since endorsed the proposal.
He said the Presidential Working Group submitted the draft National Policing Bill and 29 related constitutional amendment bills to the Federal Ministry of Justice on October 19 for legislative review.
Following the review and final consideration, the proposals would be presented to Tinubu for approval before transmission to the National Assembly.
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Addressing concerns about possible political interference, Gbajabiamila said the proposed legislation would provide enforceable safeguards, national professional standards, independent oversight and remedies for misconduct.
“A citizen’s entitlement to protection cannot depend on whom he supports or where she comes from,” he said.
Lagos seeks greater state autonomy
The Lagos State House of Assembly unanimously approved the constitutional amendment after cutting short its recess.
Speaker Mudashiru Obasa welcomed the move but argued that the proposed framework did not adequately address states’ concerns about control over their police services.
He said successive assemblies, from the fifth to the 10th, had debated state policing, but the current amendment still left significant powers at the federal level.
Obasa expressed concern that some powers assigned to state legislatures would be exercised jointly with the National Assembly, with federal authority prevailing in cases of conflict.
“It is unfortunate that what we believe in, our art and intention as well as our aspirations over the years, has not been fully captured in this alteration, even though we are pleased that at the end of the day, we have State Police in view,” he said.
He described the proposal as a step forward but expressed hope that future constitutional amendments would grant states greater control over their police services.
Obasa also advocated the establishment of parliamentary police to protect legislative institutions and preserve their independence, citing previous incidents in which state legislative buildings were reportedly demolished or locked at the instance of governors.
Ebonyi, Kogi and Niger back proposal
In Ebonyi, all 24 members of the State House of Assembly voted in favour of the amendment during plenary at the Assembly Complex on Nkaliki Road, Abakaliki.
Speaker Moses Ije Odunwa said the unanimous vote reflected lawmakers’ commitment to constitutional reforms aimed at strengthening security and protecting lives and property.
He added that Ebonyi had long supported the establishment of state police, including during a National Assembly public hearing on constitutional review.
The Kogi State House of Assembly also unanimously approved the amendment after Speaker Aliyu Umar Yusuf urged lawmakers to support the proposal.
Yusuf cited terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, farmer-herder conflicts, political thuggery and other crimes as reasons for the need for more responsive policing.
In Niger, Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago announced the passage of the bill while speaking in Minna at the inauguration of the All Progressives Congress Presidential and Governorship Campaign Council.
He commended Speaker Abdulmalik Sarkindaji and other lawmakers for their deliberations on the proposal.
Akpabio defends state police plan
Senate President Godswill Akpabio has defended the proposed state police system, arguing that it would strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture by complementing rather than replacing the federal police.
Akpabio spoke through Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin at the 10th convocation of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies and the University of Benin in Abuja.
The event featured a lecture by criminologist Professor Etannibi Alemika titled “State police in Nigeria: Issues, challenges and prospects.”
Akpabio rejected Alemika’s assessment that public hearings on the proposal had been inadequate, saying consultations had taken place in Abuja and across the six geopolitical zones to allow Nigerians to contribute.
“The federal police will remain intact. The objective is to complement the work of the existing police force,” he said.
He added that state police would operate under regulatory safeguards and federal oversight, with clearly defined limits on their powers and the weapons they could use.
Alemika, however, warned that decentralising policing without effective safeguards could worsen insecurity, particularly in states where governors exert considerable influence over public institutions.
He argued that state police alone would not address the underlying causes of insecurity, including unemployment, poverty, inequality, inadequate healthcare, poor education and environmental degradation.
“The solution to Nigeria’s insecurity lies not simply in state police or federal police, but in good governance,” he said.
The professor also questioned whether constitutional provisions would sufficiently prevent political interference, given governors’ influence over state legislatures, judiciaries and electoral commissions.
The Nation
