Thirty state Houses of Assembly have approved the constitutional amendment that would allow the creation of state police. The threshold is 24 states, or two-thirds of the 36. The recent approvals from Lagos, Niger, Kogi and Ebonyi pushed the tally to 30.
The bill now awaits final state endorsements and transmission to President Bola Tinubu for assent. The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has defended the architecture of the reform. The federal police force will remain intact to complement state services under strict regulatory safeguards, he said.
The Presidency has called on the Organised Private Sector to formulate a financing and implementation blueprint. Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila told the Nigerian Economic Summit that insecurity disrupts supply chains, delays expansions and strangles investments. He warned that contributions toward infrastructure must remain transparent and that donations must never buy influence over investigations.
This mirrors Nigeria’s long, fraught debate over decentralising policing. The 1999 Constitution places the Nigeria Police Force under exclusive federal control. States have demanded their own police forces for years, citing the federal force’s inability to respond to local security challenges. The 2014 National Conference recommended state police. The 2018 constitutional amendment bill failed. The current amendment has crossed the legislative threshold that previous attempts could not.
But the reform’s critics are not silent. Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker Mudashiru Obasa welcomed the amendment but cautioned that the proposed framework leaves excessive power at the federal level. He advocated full regional autonomy. Criminologist Etannibi Alemika warned that decentralisation alone cannot cure systemic vulnerabilities without addressing deeper socio-economic drivers and preventing political interference by state governors.
The human stakes are about who polices communities. A state police force that is well-funded, locally accountable and insulated from political capture could respond faster to kidnapping, banditry and communal violence. A state police force that is underfunded, politicised and used against opponents could become a tool of repression. The difference is in the details: funding guarantees, oversight mechanisms, and the separation of command from political office.
Winners and Losers
Winners: State governments, which gain constitutional authority to establish their own police forces. The National Assembly, which has advanced a constitutional amendment further than any previous attempt. Security consultants and private firms that will advise on implementation.
Losers: The Federal Government, which cedes a degree of control over policing. State governors who lack the fiscal capacity to fund a police force but face pressure to create one. Civil liberties advocates, who fear state police could be used to suppress dissent.
Bottom Line: Thirty states have approved state police. The Constitution will change. The harder task is building forces that protect citizens without becoming instruments of political control.