The House of Representatives has stepped down its proposed constitutional amendment aimed at creating state police, choosing instead to proceed with a similar constitutional amendment bill submitted by the Executive.
The decision became known during Tuesday’s plenary session after lawmakers considered the Executive-sponsored legislation, which successfully passed both its first and second readings.
Following the readings, the House referred the bill to the Committee on Constitutional Review for detailed legislative consideration.
By adopting the Executive proposal, lawmakers have effectively suspended work on the House’s earlier constitutional amendment seeking the establishment of state police.
The Executive-backed bill will now undergo comprehensive scrutiny at the committee stage, where its provisions will be examined, amended where necessary, and harmonised before being returned to the House for further legislative debate and consideration.
The constitutional review committee is expected to engage stakeholders and assess the legal, administrative and security implications of the proposal before presenting its recommendations to the House.
The move signals a coordinated legislative approach between the National Assembly and the Executive on one of Nigeria’s most debated constitutional reforms.
State police has remained a major issue in Nigeria’s constitutional reform discussions, with proponents arguing that decentralising policing would improve security, enhance local intelligence gathering and strengthen responses to crimes such as kidnapping, banditry and communal violence.
Opponents, however, have consistently raised concerns over the possibility of abuse by state governments, political interference and the need for stronger constitutional safeguards before such a system can be implemented.
The Executive-sponsored amendment is expected to receive further legislative attention in the coming weeks as the constitutional amendment process continues.
Further details on the contents of the proposed amendment and deliberations by the Constitutional Review Committee are expected as the legislative process progresses.
