Reps Approve State Police Bill As 288 Lawmakers Vote In Favour

The House of Representatives has passed the bill seeking to establish state police in Nigeria.

The bill was passed during Thursday’s plenary session presided over by the Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas.

The passage followed voting on the floor of the Green Chamber, with 288 lawmakers supporting the proposal, while four voted against it.

The development marks a major step in the ongoing push to amend the Constitution and decentralise policing in the country amid rising security concerns across several states.

Announcing the result of the vote, Abbas said the majority of lawmakers had endorsed the bill after deliberations on the proposal.

According to the Speaker, 288 members voted in favour of the bill, while four rejected it.

The lawmakers voted by a show of hands after Abbas explained that the electronic voting system in the chamber was not functional.

The House had earlier devoted time to debating the bill, with members considering the security implications, constitutional requirements and the need for a policing structure closer to communities.

The state police proposal is part of ongoing efforts to address the country’s security challenges by allowing states to have their own policing structures.

Supporters of the bill have argued that state police will help improve intelligence gathering, response time and community-level security coordination.

They also believe that governors and state authorities are better placed to understand the security needs of their communities and respond more quickly to threats.

However, critics have continued to express concerns over possible abuse by state governments, funding challenges and the need for strong safeguards to prevent political misuse.

Meanwhile, the Senate has also passed the bill seeking the establishment of state police for second reading.

The upper chamber referred the proposal to the Senate Committee on Constitutional Review for further legislative action.

During plenary, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, said lawmakers would vote on the bill at their next sitting.

The Senate’s decision means the bill will still undergo further scrutiny before a final position is taken by the upper chamber.

The state police proposal is one of the major items in the ongoing constitutional amendment process before the National Assembly.

For the bill to become law, it must secure the required approval of both chambers of the National Assembly and be transmitted to the state Houses of Assembly for ratification.

Under the constitutional amendment process, at least two-thirds of the 36 state Houses of Assembly must approve the proposal before it can be forwarded to the President for assent.

The latest approval by the House of Representatives is expected to intensify national debate on the creation of state police, especially as insecurity continues to affect communities across the country.