The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, has assured Nigerians that the proposed constitutional amendment to establish state police contains safeguards to prevent governors from turning the new security outfits into political tools, insisting that the reform is designed to strengthen community policing while preserving national oversight.
Speaking on Wednesday at the National Security Roundtable during the 2026 National Assembly Open Week in Abuja, Abbas said the House of Representatives would subject the State police bill to rigorous scrutiny to ensure it delivers effective policing without undermining democracy or the rule of law.
The Speaker described the proposal as one of the most consequential constitutional reforms before the National Assembly, noting that it marked the first time a sitting President had formally transmitted an executive bill seeking to establish state police.
He commended President Bola Tinubu for initiating the constitutional amendment, saying previous administrations had debated the issue for decades without taking concrete legislative action.
“For the first time in our history, a sitting president has made state police a central part of national reform. He has done so not with words alone, but with a bill that now sits before the House of Representatives,” he said.
Addressing concerns that governors could abuse state police for political purposes, Abbas said the bill deliberately incorporates multiple layers of constitutional safeguards.
“I understand the concern that many people bring to this discussion, and it is a reasonable one. It is the fear that state police could become the private army of a governor or a political godfather,” he said.
Abbas said the growing complexity of Nigeria’s security challenges had exposed the limitations of a centrally controlled police system, arguing that a country of more than 200m people could no longer rely solely on one national police force to address increasingly localised security threats.
He cited banditry, kidnapping, violent farmer-herder clashes and attacks on schools as examples of security challenges that require local knowledge and faster response.
“A country as large and as varied as ours cannot be policed forever by one central Force run from the capital. More than 200m people live across our forests, our farmlands, and our borders, and a single force cannot know every community or watch every road,” he added.
According to him, the proposed legislation would rename the Nigeria Police Force as the Federal Police Service while empowering states that choose to do so to establish their own police services through legislation passed by their respective Houses of Assembly.
He explained that no state police would commence operations until it met national minimum standards to be prescribed by the National Assembly, while the Federal Police would retain responsibility for terrorism, border security, federal offences and policing the Federal Capital Territory.
He added that Commissioners of Police would be appointed on the recommendation of the National Police Council, confirmed by state legislatures and could only be removed by a two-thirds majority of the House of Assembly for just cause.
The Speaker added that the proposed amendment also empowers the Federal Police to intervene where a state police service collapses or is unlawfully deployed, but only under clearly defined constitutional conditions, subject to legislative notification and judicial oversight.
“If a State Police breaks down, or falls into the wrong hands, or turns against the very people it should protect, the Constitution allows the federal police to step in,” he added.
Abbas also advocated a phased implementation of state policing, warning against the simultaneous establishment of police services across all 36 states without adequate preparation.
“We should move step by step, state by state, learning as Germany and Canada learned, rather than switching on thirty-six new forces on the same day,” he counselled.
He further argued that states should not establish police services they lack the financial capacity to sustain, calling for a clear funding framework before implementation begins.
“We must settle the question of money from the very beginning, so that no state creates a police force it cannot pay, and no unpaid officer becomes a threat to the citizen he has sworn to protect,” he added.
Drawing lessons from federal systems including Germany, Canada, India and the United States, Abbas said successful decentralised policing depends on national standards, integrated intelligence systems and strong accountability mechanisms.
He also called for legislation to establish a national criminal and biometric database, improve intelligence sharing among security agencies, strengthen border security and enhance the welfare and equipment of security personnel.
The debate over state police has remained one of Nigeria’s most contentious constitutional issues for more than two decades. While supporters argue that decentralising policing will improve intelligence gathering and response to local security threats, opponents have expressed fears that governors could misuse state-controlled police against political opponents.
Successive constitutional reform efforts have failed to secure the necessary political consensus to create a state police.
However, President Tinubu’s decision to transmit an executive bill to the National Assembly represents the first formal attempt by a sitting administration to amend the Constitution specifically to establish state police, placing the issue at the centre of the current constitutional amendment process.
Abbas said the House would ensure that the legislation strikes a balance between strengthening internal security and protecting democratic institutions.
“Let us build a police service that protects the citizen in the smallest village as faithfully as it protects the powerful in our cities. That is the country we owe our people, and it is the country the House of Representatives is determined to help build,” he said.