State police: what the amendment means and when anything changes

What happened

A change to the Constitution that would allow states to run their own police services has cleared the state Houses of Assembly. Under Section 9 of the Constitution, it needed the backing of at least 24 of the 36 assemblies, two-thirds of them.

Femi Gbajabiamila, the president’s chief of staff and chairman of the Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill, said on 23 October that 24 assemblies had approved it. ThisDay counted 25 the next day, before Ondo voted for it on 26 October and Kano on 27 October.

Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele said on 29 October that at least 30 assemblies had now approved it.

The amendment is the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Sixth Alteration) Bill, 2026, sent to the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu. The Senate passed it in June and the House of Representatives in July, and the Clerk to the National Assembly sent it to the state assemblies in September.

Why it matters

Nigeria has one police force, under federal control. Section 214 of the Constitution says no other police force may be set up for the country or any part of it. Supporters of state police, including Ondo Assembly Speaker Olamide Oladiji, say forces closer to communities would gather intelligence better and respond to crime faster.

The version the Senate passed in June would rewrite Section 214 to create a Federal Police Service and a State Police Service for each state, Vanguard reported. A state would have to set up its service by a law of its own assembly. The service could not start policing until it was certified as meeting national minimum standards set by an Act of the National Assembly.

The federal police would keep sole responsibility for national security, terrorism, cybercrime, crime across state borders, arms trafficking, the FCT and federal institutions. A state commissioner of police would be appointed by the governor on the recommendation of the National Police Council and confirmed by the state assembly.

The bill would let the president take direct command of a state police service in set circumstances, such as a breakdown of public order the state force cannot contain, or evidence of systematic rights abuses or political intimidation. The president would have to act in writing, tell the governor and the National Assembly within 48 hours and get the Senate’s backing, and the courts could review the decision.

It would also bar anyone from directing a police service to enforce the law for a partisan, ethnic, religious, sectional or personal purpose.

What happens next

The National Assembly now has to collect the assemblies’ resolutions, and its clerk has to confirm that the two-thirds threshold has been met. Both chambers then pass a resolution, and the bill goes to Tinubu to sign. Bamidele said he expected this to be done by December.

Signing the amendment would not start any state police service. Tinubu has said it sets up the framework for dual policing and leaves the details to the National Policing Bill. The working group said the draft bills are being checked by the Federal Ministry of Justice and were expected back on or before 30 October, before they go to the president and then the National Assembly.

After that, each state that wants a police service would need to pass its own law and have its service certified. No state has given a timetable. We will update this explainer when the president signs the amendment and when the National Policing Bill reaches the National Assembly.

Sources: Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill; Naija News; ThisDay; Tribune; Vanguard