The Presidency has indicated that efforts to establish state police in Nigeria are making significant progress, with a constitutional framework for the proposed policing system nearing completion as part of broader reforms aimed at strengthening the country’s security architecture.
The development was disclosed by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who said the Presidency and the National Assembly are working together on a constitutional template that would accelerate the creation of state police across the federation.
Speaking after a Sallah visit by Senate principal officers to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Lagos, Akpabio said the proposed framework is designed to strengthen Nigeria’s security system by allowing states to play a more active role in policing while maintaining national standards through a central regulatory mechanism.
According to the Senate President, the National Assembly is also considering measures to improve funding for security agencies, including a proposal to increase allocations to the Police Trust Fund. He said such reforms would complement the planned decentralization of policing responsibilities.
The push for state police has gained momentum in recent months amid growing concerns over insecurity, including terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, and other violent crimes across parts of the country. Advocates argue that state-controlled police forces would improve intelligence gathering and enable quicker responses to local security threats. Critics, however, have raised concerns about the potential misuse of state police by governors for political purposes.
Earlier this year, President Tinubu called on lawmakers to amend the Constitution to provide a legal basis for state police, arguing that Nigeria’s evolving security challenges require a more decentralized approach to law enforcement.
The reform process has also received support from the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, which recently announced that it had developed a framework outlining governance structures, financing models, oversight mechanisms, and operational requirements for the proposed state police system in anticipation of constitutional amendments.
In March, the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, submitted a 75-page framework on the establishment of state police to the Senate Committee on Constitution Review. The document outlines the proposed operational structure, governance model, and legal safeguards for state policing in Nigeria.
For the proposal to become law, constitutional amendments establishing state police would require approval by the National Assembly and ratification by at least two-thirds of the country’s state Houses of Assembly.
The latest developments suggest that discussions on state police have moved beyond policy advocacy to the stage of drafting and refining the constitutional framework that could pave the way for one of the most significant reforms of Nigeria’s security system in decades.
