Four States Back State Police Constitutional Amendment – Tinubu Aide

Four states — Edo, Rivers, Osun and Oyo — have approved the constitutional amendment bill seeking to provide a legal foundation for the establishment of state police in Nigeria, the Presidency has disclosed.

Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Planning and Research, Nnadubem Moghalu, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja while speaking at a parliamentary lecture organised by the House of Representatives Press Corps.

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Moghalu, who also serves as Secretary of the Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill, said the approval by the four states represented an important step in the ongoing process of reforming Nigeria’s policing architecture.

He explained that the proposed constitutional amendment requires approval from at least 24 state Houses of Assembly before it can take effect.

According to him, the constitutional process will continue until the required threshold is achieved.

“The required threshold is twenty-four states. The constitutional process continues until that threshold is met,” Moghalu said.

The presidential aide, however, stressed that the constitutional amendment should not be confused with the National Policing Bill being developed by the Federal Government.

He explained that the constitutional amendment would establish the legal foundation for a dual policing structure, while the National Policing Bill would provide the operational framework required to make such a system work.

“The distinction between that constitutional amendment and the national policing bill we are now working on is important. The amendment would create a constitutional basis for the dual policing model,” he said.

Moghalu added that individual states would still need to enact appropriate legislation and establish the institutions required to operate state police after the constitutional process is completed.

“The national policing bill is intended to provide the operational framework through which that constitutional model can work. State legislation and the practical work of building capable institutions must follow within the resulting legal framework,” he added.

The proposed establishment of state police has remained a major subject of debate in Nigeria, particularly against the backdrop of worsening insecurity and concerns over the ability of the existing centralised policing system to effectively respond to security threats across the country.

While supporters argue that state police would bring security closer to communities and allow authorities to respond more quickly to local challenges, critics have repeatedly raised concerns about the possibility of political interference.

Moghalu therefore warned governors against using state police as instruments for political repression.

He said governors must not deploy state security structures against political opponents, while majority groups within states should also not be allowed to use security agencies to intimidate or persecute minority communities.

He stressed that the proposed framework must clearly define the powers of state police authorities and establish appropriate sanctions for abuse.

Speaking at the same event, the Executive Secretary of the National Assembly Library Trust Fund, Henry Nwawuba, called on lawmakers to move beyond expressions of sympathy over insecurity and pursue concrete legislative solutions.

“We can’t keep saying our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of insecurity and we call ourselves legislators,” Nwawuba said.

Former House of Representatives Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu, also expressed support for the proposed policing reform but emphasised the need for strong safeguards.

Elumelu said any state policing structure must promote professionalism and accountability while respecting human rights.

He also called for adequate training for personnel and measures to protect state police institutions from political interference.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the House of Representatives, Akin Rotimi, who represented Speaker Tajudeen Abbas at the event, urged journalists and lawmakers to assess the proposed reform based on its provisions, principles and likely consequences rather than the identities of those supporting or sponsoring it.

He said the debate should focus on whether the proposed system would provide effective solutions to Nigeria’s security challenges while protecting democratic values and citizens’ rights.

The Chairperson of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in the Federal Capital Territory, Grace Ike, also backed the principle of policing closer to communities, saying it could improve responses to local security challenges.

Ike, however, stressed that state police would require effective oversight, adequate funding and strong accountability mechanisms to prevent the system from being abused.

The development marks another step in the Federal Government’s efforts to reform Nigeria’s policing architecture. However, with only four state Houses of Assembly currently identified as having approved the constitutional amendment, the proposal still requires support from at least 20 additional state legislatures to reach the 24-state threshold.

If the required constitutional approval is secured, states would still have to develop their own legal and institutional structures before state police can become operational under the proposed dual policing arrangement.

The debate is therefore expected to continue around funding, recruitment, command structure, human rights protection, oversight and mechanisms for preventing political abuse of state security institutions.