WE WILL DELIVER STATE POLICE BY YEAR END- SENATE
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BY JENN NOMAMIUKOR
The Senate has said it will finish changing the 1999 Constitution to let states create their own police forces before the end of 2026.
A Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu, told the press on Friday that the upper house will start working on the constitutional review right away once the main meeting resumes next week.
This comes after President Bola Tinubu asked the National Assembly to begin the process of changing the constitution to include state police as part of efforts to deal with the country‘s security problems.
During an interfaith breaking of fast at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Wednesday night, the President said, “What I am asking for tonight is for you to start thinking about the best way to change the constitution to include state police so we can secure our country, take back our forests from criminals, and free our children from fear.”
Tinubu, while addressing members of the House of Representatives on Friday, urged them to ensure that the proposed constitutional amendment for the creation of the state police includes safeguards against potential abuse by governors.
He stressed that the establishment of state police should not be “a straight free fall for everybody,” but must be structured with checks and balances drawn from past experiences.
Pledging the Senate’s readiness to fast-track the amendment of the constitution to accommodate state police, Adaramodu noted that significant groundwork had already been done on the proposal before legislative focus shifted to the electoral amendment.
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He assured Nigerians that the National Assembly would treat the amendment with urgency and conclude the process before political campaigns begin ahead of the next general election.
“We are going to commence the process of reviewing the constitution for the establishment of state police immediately we resume next week.
“We want to assure Nigerians that before the general election, we would have amended the constitution to allow for the creation of state police. We are going to expeditiously treat the matter. We are giving our assurance that before the end of this year, the amendment will be done so that we can have the state police.
“Before electioneering starts, we would have done and dusted it, then pass it on to Mr President for his assent,” the Senate spokesman said.
Adaramodu disclosed that consultations had been held across the country, including stakeholder meetings in the geopolitical zones and engagements with relevant sectors.
According to him, the committee handling the constitution review has already compiled reports and findings from the consultations.
“Before now, we had already done a lot; we went on a little break for the electoral bill, which has just been signed into law. We were under the pressure of time to deliver the electoral amendment. Then, immediately after that, we have to consider the 2026 Appropriation Bill. That is why we suspended plenary for just a few days. But now that we have dealt with that, we are picking the constitution review immediately,” he added.
Adaramodu said that state police is a plan that many people support, and it has the support of important people across the country.
He said, “State police is a popular idea.
The President has approved it, the state governors have also approved it, and the National Assembly really likes it.“
Meanwhile, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria and the Pan-Yoruba group Afenifere have warned against the misuse of power in the new state police setup.
The leader of MACBAN, Baba Ngelzarma, said that while creating state police could help with security, there needs to be clear rules in the law to stop governors from using the police in wrong ways.
Ngelzarma noted that the country currently faced a shortage of security personnel and that decentralising policing could help improve the response to crime.
“As far as the security situation in the country is concerned, there is definitely a shortage of security personnel. It (state police) is the only avenue that can be used to provide an adequate number of security required in the country to combat the criminalities going on,” he said.
He, however, warned that recruitment into state police must be balanced and reflective of the ethnic and religious diversity within each state to avoid domination by any particular group.
According to him, the recruitment process should be structured to prevent any tribe or religion from gaining undue advantage.
Ngelzarma also cautioned that state police could be exploited by politicians against opponents if adequate constitutional safeguards are not established.
“If recruitment becomes lopsided, instead of solving the problem, it will create more problems. We are in a political era and politicians are going to use it to their own advantage, especially when they want to come back to power. They may use state police against their opponents,” he said.
To address this concern, he urged lawmakers to empower the Federal Government to regulate the activities of state police formations and ensure oversight.
He also suggested that the constitution should provide penalties for any abuse and grant the National Assembly authority to create a supervisory mechanism to monitor the operations of the state police.
Similarly, the National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Jare Ajayi, said the proposed reform was necessary given the growing security challenges across the country.
Ajayi noted that many crimes occur at the local level and are best addressed through locally driven security structures.
However, he stressed the need for legal safeguards to prevent governors from misusing state police.
“The National Assembly must make provisions in the bill to limit the powers of governors to curb abuse of state police,” he said.
According to him, citizens should be able to challenge any suspected misuse of state police by governors through the courts.
“Given human nature, it is possible that some governors may want to abuse the power they have over state police, but there must be provisions in the law that will check the possible abuse,” he added.
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