President Bola Tinubu has forwarded a Constitution Alteration Bill to the Senate seeking to establish state police across Nigeria as part of ongoing security reforms.
The proposed legislation aims to amend relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution to provide a legal framework for the creation and operation of state-controlled policing structures in all federating units.
According to the proposal, the reform is designed to strengthen internal security by allowing state governments to take a more active role in maintaining law and order within their jurisdictions.
The move follows repeated calls by the President for constitutional adjustments that would decentralise policing powers, particularly in response to rising security challenges across the country.
Earlier in February, Tinubu had urged the National Assembly to consider constitutional amendments that would enable state police, describing the initiative as necessary in addressing terrorism, banditry, and other violent crimes.
During his Democracy Day address, the President also restated his administration’s hardline stance on insecurity, warning that perpetrators of terrorism and their sponsors would face the full force of the law.
“The continued captivity of schoolchildren abducted in Oyo and Borno states remains a painful reminder of our security challenges,” Tinubu had noted, while emphasising progress in counter-insurgency operations.
The state police proposal has gained increasing political momentum in recent months, with lawmakers in both chambers of the National Assembly actively engaging in constitutional amendment processes to decentralise policing.
The Senate is expected to reconvene for an emergency plenary session to deliberate on the bill, which is widely regarded as one of the most significant security reform proposals in Nigeria’s recent democratic history.
