Senate Passes State Police Bill, Advancing Push To Decentralize Nigeria’s Security Architecture

The Senate has passed a constitutional amendment bill seeking to establish state police services across Nigeria, marking a significant step in one of the country’s most consequential and contentious security reform debates. The proposed legislation, which seeks to amend the 1999 Constitution, would replace Nigeria’s current centralized policing framework with a dual system comprising a Federal Police Service and independently administered State Police Services.

The bill was passed after it scaled second and third readings in the Senate following a clause-by-clause consideration by lawmakers. Its passage came just a day after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu formally transmitted the proposal to the National Assembly, underscoring the administration’s growing commitment to restructuring Nigeria’s security architecture amid worsening insecurity across several parts of the country.

If eventually adopted by the House of Representatives and ratified by the requisite number of state assemblies, the amendment would represent one of the most significant changes to Nigeria’s policing structure since independence.

At the core of the proposal is the creation of state-controlled police formations headed by Commissioners of Police appointed by state governors. Under Clause 17 of the amendment, governors would nominate commissioners based on recommendations from the National Police Council, subject to confirmation by their respective State Houses of Assembly and compliance with nationally prescribed standards and qualifications.

The bill also formally defines the relationship between governors and state police commands. Governors would be empowered to issue lawful written directives relating to public safety and public order within their states, giving state governments a direct role in shaping policing priorities and security responses.

For decades, advocates of state policing have argued that Nigeria’s highly centralized security structure is increasingly ill-suited to the country’s size, complexity, and evolving security challenges. Nigeria currently operates a single federal police force responsible for policing a population of more than 200 million people across 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. Critics of the existing system have long maintained that a centrally controlled police force struggles to respond effectively to local security threats, particularly in rural communities where intelligence gathering often depends on local knowledge and relationships. Supporters of state police believe decentralization could significantly improve response times, strengthen community-based policing, and enhance intelligence gathering by placing security institutions closer to the populations they serve.

The renewed momentum behind the proposal comes amid persistent security crises ranging from banditry and mass kidnappings to communal violence and farmer-herder conflicts. In recent years, state governments have increasingly funded security operations and established various quasi-policing outfits, including regional security networks such as the South-West’s Amotekun Corps, despite lacking constitutional authority over policing itself.

President Tinubu has repeatedly argued that state police are no longer optional but necessary. The President last year, described the proposal as unavoidable if Nigeria is to effectively tackle its growing security challenges and urged lawmakers to expedite constitutional amendments that would make it possible.

But while support for state police has grown, concerns about potential abuse remain. One of the principal objections to state policing has been the fear that governors could weaponize local police formations against political opponents, journalists, activists, civil society organizations and other dissenting voices. In an apparent attempt to address these concerns, lawmakers included specific safeguards within the amendment.

Section 17(7) explicitly states that a State Commissioner of Police “shall not arrest, detain, investigate or deploy force against any person, political party or group merely for criticizing the government except in accordance with the law.” The provision is designed to limit the possibility of state police becoming instruments of political repression while preserving existing constitutional protections relating to freedom of expression, political participation, and due process. The amendment also outlines circumstances under which the Federal Government may intervene in the affairs of a state police service.

Under the proposed Section 214, the Federal Police Service may temporarily assume operational control where there is an actual or imminent breakdown of public order that a state police service is unable or unwilling to contain, or where a governor formally requests federal assistance. Any such intervention must be authorized in writing by the President and must specify its grounds, territorial scope, operational responsibilities and duration. The amendment further requires that notice of the intervention be provided within 48 hours to the affected governor, the state assembly, the National Police Council and the National Assembly.

Importantly, federal interventions would not be indefinite. Any extension beyond a prescribed period would require Senate approval, creating an additional layer of legislative oversight.

Despite these safeguards, critics remain unconvinced.

Opponents of state police continue to raise concerns about funding constraints, uneven institutional capacity across states, and the possibility that local political actors could exploit security agencies for partisan purposes. Others have warned that decentralized policing could deepen ethnic, religious, or communal tensions in already volatile regions.

These concerns are not entirely theoretical. Nigeria’s political history contains numerous examples of state institutions being deployed for partisan ends, leading some observers to question whether state police would strengthen accountability or simply move the locus of abuse from Abuja to state capitals.

Still, the political momentum behind the proposal appears stronger than at any point since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999. For years, calls for state police remained trapped in the realm of constitutional debate. Today, however, growing insecurity, overstretched federal security agencies and mounting pressure from governors have combined to make decentralized policing one of the country’s most actively pursued governance reforms.

The Senate’s approval does not make state police a reality just yet. The proposal must still clear the House of Representatives and secure the backing of at least two-thirds of Nigeria’s state legislatures before becoming law. Nevertheless, the vote represents a major milestone in a decades-long conversation about who should control security in Nigeria and whether the country’s current policing model remains fit for purpose.