Nigeria’s proposed state police system has reached the next and potentially decisive stage, with the National Assembly transmitting the constitutional amendment bill to all 36 state Houses of Assembly for consideration.
The move puts state lawmakers at the centre of one of Nigeria’s biggest proposed changes to its security architecture since the return to democracy in 1999.
The Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, said the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Sixth Alteration) Bill, 2026, was transmitted to the state legislatures on Wednesday, September 16.
The National Assembly has asked the state assemblies to consider the bill and communicate their resolutions within 30 days. Ogunlana, however, stressed that the period is an administrative timeframe, not a constitutional deadline.
At least 24 of the 36 state assemblies must approve the constitutional amendment before the process can move to its final stage. Under Section 9 of the 1999 Constitution, constitutional alterations require approval by at least two-thirds of the state Houses of Assembly after passage by the National Assembly.
The transmission follows months of legislative work on the proposal, which would allow states to establish their own police forces alongside the Nigeria Police Force.
The House of Representatives passed the state police amendment in June after lawmakers voted overwhelmingly for the proposal. The Senate subsequently approved its version, clearing the federal legislative hurdle and setting up the state-level ratification process.
The reform has been driven by concerns that Nigeria’s highly centralised policing system is poorly suited to a country facing security threats that vary sharply from one region to another.
Nigeria is dealing with terrorism and insurgency in the northeast, banditry and mass kidnapping in the northwest and north-central regions, separatist violence in parts of the southeast and a range of other criminal threats across the country.
The proposal would fundamentally alter that structure by allowing states to operate police organisations closer to the communities they govern.
From proposal to implementation
The idea of state police is not new. It has been debated for years, with supporters arguing that policing is more effective when officers have better knowledge of local communities, terrain and security threats.
The federal government and National Assembly accelerated the process in 2026.
In March, then-Inspector-General of Police Tunji Disu inaugurated a committee to develop an operational framework for state policing, including recruitment and training standards, coordination with the federal police and accountability mechanisms.
The committee’s work reflected one of the central questions surrounding the reform: how to bring policing closer to communities without creating new opportunities for political interference or weakening national security coordination.
That question has remained central as the legislation has advanced.
The House version of the amendment include safeguards governing the establishment and operation of state police, including national minimum standards and provisions allowing the federal police to intervene under specified circumstances.
The state assemblies will now have to examine the proposal and decide whether to give it the required constitutional backing.
Their decisions will determine whether Nigeria takes the historic step of moving from an almost entirely centralised policing model to a dual system in which federal and state police operate alongside each other.
What happens after the states?
The state assemblies’ approval is not the end of the process. If at least 24 states approve the amendment, the National Assembly will proceed with the remaining constitutional steps before the bill can be presented to the president for assent.
The outcome will therefore depend not only on whether states support the principle of state police, but also on how they assess the proposed safeguards, financing arrangements, command structure and relationship between state and federal forces.
Those details matter because creating state police would transfer significant responsibility for security from Abuja to the states.
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