The Senate has officially passed constitutional amendments to establish state police in Nigeria. Legislators formally approved the bill on Wednesday.
Furthermore, before considering the bill, the senators opted to vote manually because the electronic voting device developed a technical fault.
The resolution came following concerns among senators over the possibility of some lawmakers losing their voting rights if the chamber used the faulty device.
In the manual voting, each lawmaker took a stand, announce their names and openly declare their positions on the proposed framework. Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele moved the motion for the adoption of manual voting.
Additionally, a key provision of the bill empowers state governors to appoint Commissioners of Police for their respective states, subject to confirmation by the state Houses of Assembly.
Under Clause 17 of the proposed constitutional amendment, “A State Police Service shall be headed by a Commissioner of Police of the State appointed by the Governor of the State on the recommendation of the National Police Council, subject to confirmation by the House of Assembly of the State and to such qualifications and national minimum standards as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly”.
The bill further outlines the operational relationship between governors and state commands. Section 17(6) provides that “a governor may issue lawful written directives of a general policy nature to the Commissioner of Police on matters relating to the maintenance of public safety and public order within the state”.
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No More Firearms for Amotekun, Other Local Security Outfits
In the absence of an official state policing system, several regions established local security outfits, including Amotekun in the South-West, Ebube Agu in the South-East, and Hisbah in parts of Northern Nigeria.
However, Section 25(5) of the bill bars existing local security outfits from operating as a Police Service or exercising policing powers. The provision also prohibits those groups from carrying firearms.
The section states that, “No existing state, local, community, vigilante, neighbourhood, traffic or other security outfits shall, by reason only of this Act, become a State Police Service or exercise police powers or bear firearms unless authorised in accordance with this Constitution and an Act of the National Assembly.”
In essence, the provision prevents existing regional security outfits such as Amotekun, Ebube Agu, and Hisbah from carrying firearms, exercising police powers, or automatically transitioning into police agencies under the proposed law.
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