State Police in Nigeria Moves Closer to Reality as 24 States Endorse Historic Constitutional Reform
State Police in Nigeria Moves Closer to Reality as 24 States Endorse Historic Constitutional Reform
Nigeria’s decades-long campaign for decentralised policing has recorded a major breakthrough following the approval of the State Police Constitutional Amendment Bill by 24 State Houses of Assembly, paving the way for a new security structure designed to strengthen grassroots policing and tackle insecurity across the country.
The development represents a significant milestone in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s security reform agenda, as the approval satisfies the two-thirds requirement stipulated under Section 9 of the 1999 Constitution for constitutional amendments. With the necessary legislative endorsement secured, the proposed reform can now proceed to the next stage of the constitutional process.
Chief of Staff to the President and Chairman of the Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, confirmed the development on Friday, October 23, 2026, describing the endorsement as a major achievement in Nigeria’s efforts to modernise its policing system. He commended the participating state legislatures and the National Assembly for supporting a reform expected to reshape the country’s security architecture.
Under the proposed arrangement, Nigeria would operate a dual policing system comprising a Federal Police Service and State Police Services. The initiative is intended to bring law enforcement closer to communities, improve intelligence gathering, strengthen responses to local security threats and reduce the operational burden on the existing centralised police structure.
The proposed state policing framework is particularly significant amid persistent concerns over kidnapping, banditry, armed robbery and other criminal activities affecting communities across Nigeria. Advocates of decentralised policing believe that security personnel familiar with local languages, geography and community structures could respond more effectively to emerging threats, although the success of the system would depend on adequate funding, professional training and effective supervision.
Gbajabiamila explained that the constitutional amendment would provide the legal foundation for the broader National Policing Bill, 2026, which is currently undergoing legislative drafting review and validation at the Federal Ministry of Justice. The ministry is expected to return the draft legislation and 29 consequential amendment bills to the Presidential Working Group on or before October 30, 2026, ahead of further consideration and eventual submission to President Tinubu.
Beyond expanding policing responsibilities, the proposed legislation is expected to address minimum operational standards, federal-state coordination, accountability, human rights protection, state readiness certification and financial requirements. These provisions are considered essential to addressing concerns that state police institutions could become vulnerable to political interference, inadequate funding or abuse of authority if sufficient safeguards are not established.
President Tinubu had inaugurated the Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill on July 7, 2026, with a mandate to develop an implementation-ready legal framework for decentralised policing. With 24 state legislatures now endorsing the constitutional amendment, attention is shifting towards presidential assent, the completion of the enabling legislation and the practical arrangements required to establish state police services across Nigeria.
Although the approval does not mean state police has already become operational, it marks a decisive turning point in Nigeria’s constitutional and security reform process, raising expectations that a more community-focused policing system could eventually improve public safety and strengthen the country’s response to crime.
