Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele
The process to establish state police in Nigeria has moved closer to completion after at least 30 states approved the proposed constitutional amendment.
Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, disclosed this on Thursday during a lecture at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Plateau State.
Bamidele said the approval by the states marked a major breakthrough in efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s security system.
He explained that Section 9(2) of the 1999 Constitution requires at least two-thirds of State Houses of Assembly to approve any constitutional amendment.
According to him, the National Assembly has already received reports confirming that at least 30 states have endorsed the State Police Constitution Alteration Bill, 2026.
He said, “The constitutional requirement for the alteration has been duly met. This is a historic milestone in our collective quest to re-engineer our security architecture and make it more responsive, more local and more effective.”
The Senate Leader said the National Assembly would now collate the reports from the states and adopt them through a simple majority vote in both chambers.
He added that the bill would then be transmitted to President Bola Tinubu for presidential assent.
Bamidele expressed confidence that all remaining legislative processes would be completed on or before December 2026.
He described the development as a major step towards ending more than 15 years of failed attempts to establish state police in Nigeria.
According to him, the proposed system will allow policing that better understands local communities, languages and security challenges.
He, however, stressed that state police would not create state armies or weaken the Federal Government.
Instead, he said the new policing system would operate under constitutional safeguards, proper oversight, operational standards and respect for human rights.
Bamidele reaffirmed that the 10th National Assembly, led by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, is committed to completing the constitutional amendment to improve security across the country.
