The National Assembly has transmitted the bill seeking to establish state police to President Bola Tinubu for assent after 30 of Nigeria’s 36 state Houses of Assembly approved the proposed constitutional amendment.
The development brings the long-running push for decentralised policing closer to becoming law, with presidential assent now the final stage of the amendment process.
The Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, announced the number of approvals during Wednesday’s plenary, listing the 30 states that had endorsed the bill.
The states are Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.
Bamidele said the approvals exceeded the constitutional requirement of two-thirds of the 36 state assemblies, which translates to 24 states.
He explained that the constitutional amendment process involved three stages: passage by the National Assembly, approval by at least two-thirds of state assemblies and presidential assent.
“Passage of the bill was meant to be done by the National Assembly, which was done, and approval is meant to be done by at least two-thirds of the 36 state Houses of Assembly in the country, and assent is to be given by the President to complete this process,” he said.
The Senate Leader said the requirement was designed to ensure that constitutional amendments enjoyed the support of critical stakeholders across the different levels of government.
He described the development as a positive step for Nigeria’s democracy.
The transmission followed a notice read by Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau, on behalf of the Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana.
According to the notice, the Clerk’s office had received approvals from 29 state assemblies as of the close of business on Tuesday, November 3.
The leadership of the National Assembly consequently directed the Clerk to transmit the bill to the President on Wednesday, November 4.
However, Bamidele subsequently announced that the number of approving assemblies had risen to 30.
Earlier, the Senate had given the six state assemblies yet to communicate their positions until November 15 to do so.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio said any assembly that failed to communicate its decision by the deadline would be deemed to have withheld its approval.
The Senate unanimously adopted the position.
The proposed amendment seeks to alter the 1999 Constitution to provide for the establishment of state police services, a move expected to decentralise Nigeria’s policing structure.
The reform has been a major subject of national debate amid persistent security challenges and calls for a policing system that allows states to respond more effectively to local security threats.
With the bill now transmitted to Tinubu, attention shifts to the President’s assent, which is required to complete the constitutional amendment process.
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