The House of Representatives has reversed its judgement on the passage of the state police law.
The lower legislative chamber reversed its earlier support of the proposed legislation after Francis Waive, head of the rules and business committee, moved to revisit the bill.
Waive stated that new information about the bill’s contents has emerged, demanding a thorough assessment of its clauses to guarantee compatibility with the country’s national security architecture.
Following Speaker Tajudeen Abbas’s presentation of a letter from President Bola Tinubu during Tuesday’s plenary, he urged the House to reverse its June 11 vote and disband the conference committee set up to reconcile the bill with the Senate’s version.
“I am delighted to present to the house of representatives for consideration the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Alteration) (State Police) Bill, 2026, which seeks to amend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to create a constitutional pathway for the establishment of State Police Services,” the letter reads.
The president also stated that he looked forward to the parliament’s “expeditious consideration” of the bill. The House then debated Tinubu’s version of the measure, passing it through its first and second readings.
This followed the Senate’s passage of the bill on June 24, just a day after Senate President Godswill Akpabio read Tinubu’s letter requesting approval of the policing framework.
Currently, policing and other legally mandated government security services fall solely under the responsibility of the federal government.
However, the proposed legislation aims to shift policing authority from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislative list, allowing both the national and state houses of assembly to legislate on policing and other security matters.
Backstory…
The debate over state police has remained one of Nigeria’s most contentious constitutional issues in recent weeks, driven largely by the country’s worsening insecurity.
On June 24, the Senate officially passed constitutional amendments to establish state police in Nigeria. Legislators formally approved the bill
Relevant political figures, governors, traditional rulers and security experts have argued that the highly centralised policing system has become overstretched in tackling terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, farmer-herder clashes and other violent crimes across the country.
While supporters believe the bill would enable quicker and more effective responses to local security threats, others like Peter Obi have warned that governors could misuse state-controlled police forces to intimidate political opponents, suppress dissent and influence elections.
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