The proposed establishment of state police has moved closer to reality, with Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele saying at least 30 states have approved the constitutional amendment.
Bamidele spoke on Thursday while delivering a lecture titled “Improving the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Governance through Proactive Lawmaking” to participants of Senior Executive Course 48 at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos, Plateau.
The lecture examined the role of legislation in strengthening public governance and addressing Nigeria’s development challenges.
Bamidele, who is also Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, said the constitutional threshold for the proposed amendment had been met.
He explained that Section 9(2) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, requires the concurrence of at least two-thirds of the State Houses of Assembly for constitutional alteration.
He said the National Assembly had received formal reports from state legislatures, with at least 30 states approving the State Police Constitution Alteration Bill, 2026.
“The constitutional requirement for the alteration has been duly met. This is a historic milestone in our collective quest to re-engineer our security architecture and make it more responsive, more local and more effective,” Bamidele said.
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He said the next stage required the National Assembly to collate the reports, consider the positions of the state legislatures and pass a resolution by a simple majority in both chambers.
Bamidele added that the proposed amendment would be transmitted to President Bola Tinubu for assent after the legislative requirements had been completed.
He said the National Assembly intended to conclude the remaining legislative stages, including consideration of reports and transmission for presidential assent, on or before December 2026.
The Senate Leader described the development as a significant step towards ending more than 15 years of unsuccessful attempts to establish state police through constitutional amendment.
He said the proposed reform would enable Nigeria to develop a policing system better equipped to understand local terrain, communicate in local languages and respond to community-specific security challenges.
Bamidele, however, emphasised that state police would not create state armies or weaken the Federal Government, but establish community-oriented policing under constitutional safeguards, operational standards, oversight mechanisms and human rights protections.
He said the 10th National Assembly, under Senate President Godswill Akpabio, remained committed to completing the process to improve security across the country.
NAN
