The House of Representatives passed the Executive Bill establishing state police during Thursday’s plenary session.
This passage follows the Nigerian Senate’s approval of its own version, bringing the nation closer to a decentralized policing system designed to boost local law enforcement and strengthen internal security.
Lawmakers previously pushed the President’s proposal through its first and second readings as part of their efforts to establish state-level policing across the country.
The initiative forms part of ongoing efforts to overhaul Nigeria’s security framework to combat persistent kidnapping, banditry, and widespread insecurity.
The House originally evaluated a separate state police bill before abandoning it to support Tinubu’s executive legislation.
Following that withdrawal, lawmakers debated the President’s measure, guiding it through preliminary legislative steps ahead of Thursday’s final vote.
However, the decision to create state police has sparked mixed reactions across Nigeria, with prominent opposition leaders accusing President Tinubu of planning to use state forces to manipulate the 2027 elections.
Meanwhile, this comes just days after House of Representatives reversed its judgement on the passage of the state police law.
The lower legislative chamber previously 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.
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Backstory…
The House of Representatives’ passage of the State Police Bill marks a major milestone in a constitutional reform that has dominated national discourse for years.
Successive administrations have faced growing calls to decentralise policing as insecurity worsened across the country, with governors, traditional rulers, security experts and civil society groups arguing that a centrally controlled Nigeria Police Force has struggled to effectively respond to local security challenges such as banditry, terrorism, kidnapping and communal violence.
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