• Presidency seeks sustainable funding plan, warns against private interests
• Five more states endorse constitutional amendment for state police
• Lagos lawmakers demand clear division of federal, state police powers
• Kogi, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Kano back decentralised policing
• Presidency submits National Policing Bill, 29 amendment bills for review

With 30 states endorsing the proposed constitutional amendment for state police, the Presidency has called on business leaders to help design a sustainable funding model for the reform, stressing that the success of decentralised policing will depend on states’ ability to pay salaries, provide training and meet operational costs.

The Presidency challenged Nigeria’s organised private sector to develop a financing and implementation blueprint for the proposed state police system, saying sustainable security is critical to protecting investments, creating jobs and driving economic growth.

The Presidency also stressed that states seeking to establish their own police services must demonstrate financial capacity beyond the initial procurement of vehicles, uniforms and equipment.

According to the Presidency, inadequate funding could expose police institutions to private interests and unlawful demands. It assured Nigerians that federal policing would continue in states not yet financially or institutionally ready to establish their own services.

Chief of Staff to the President and Chairman of the Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill, Femi Gbajabiamila, urged the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), chambers of commerce and business associations to propose practical funding arrangements, institutional management structures and accountable partnerships for the reform.

Speaking at a plenary session on Security, Stability and Economic Resilience at the 32nd Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja on Monday, he said insecurity was imposing high costs on businesses through disrupted supply chains, delayed investments and lost commercial opportunities.

He urged business leaders to engage state governments and legislators as the proposed reform progresses, arguing that the private sector’s experience in financial management, risk assessment and institutional governance could help shape an effective policing system.

“I therefore ask the Nigerian Economic Summit Group to carry this engagement beyond our meeting. Bring forward a considered private sector contribution on financing and implementing state police, with practical proposals for accountable partnerships,” he said.

Gbajabiamila, however, warned that private sector participation must not compromise police independence, insisting that contributions should be transparently accounted for and subject to independent scrutiny.

“Public funding must remain dependable, and a donation must never purchase influence over an investigation or preferential treatment,” he said.

Five more states endorse constitutional amendment
THE Lagos, Kano, Jigawa, Ebonyi and Kogi state Houses of Assembly yesterday endorsed the proposed constitutional amendment to establish state police, joining efforts to decentralise Nigeria’s security architecture and strengthen responses to growing insecurity.

States that have passed the amendment include Adamawa, Kwara, Nasarawa, Ogun, Osun, Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Ekiti, Kebbi, Oyo, Plateau, Taraba, Zamfara, Bayelsa, Benue, Abia, Yobe and Kaduna.

A two-thirds majority of the country’s 36 states is required to pass a Constitutional Amendment Bill.

The approvals followed the transmission of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Sixth Alteration) Act, 2026, by the National Assembly to state legislatures for concurrence.

In Lagos, lawmakers reconvened yesterday, cutting short their recess to consider the proposed amendment and unanimously voted in favour of the bill.

Presiding over plenary, the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, described the development as a significant milestone in a campaign that has spanned several legislative sessions.

He said the establishment of state police had remained a recurring issue from the fifth to the 10th Assembly, with successive legislatures seeking ways to strengthen security and protect lives and property.

However, Obasa said the proposed amendment fell short of granting federating units full operational autonomy, warning that the functions and responsibilities of federal and state police should be clearly defined to prevent structural imbalances.

He also called for an explicit constitutional provision for a dedicated parliamentary police force to protect legislative institutions from executive interference, citing instances in which state assembly complexes were allegedly locked up or demolished on the orders of governors.

According to him, a parliamentary police force would strengthen state legislatures and safeguard democracy.

The Speaker commended President Bola Tinubu, the leadership of the National Assembly and state legislatures for their roles in advancing the constitutional review process. He expressed confidence that outstanding concerns would be addressed as the ratification process progressed.

In Kano, the State House of Assembly passed the bill after lawmakers considered its 26 clauses during plenary presided over by the Speaker, Isma’il Falgore.

The Jigawa State House of Assembly also approved the proposed amendment, with Speaker Haruna Aliyu Dangyatin saying the move was aimed at strengthening community policing and improving security at the state and local government levels.

Dangyatin said the bill was transmitted to the assembly following its passage by the Senate and House of Representatives, adding that the approval formed part of efforts to give state governments greater responsibility for addressing security challenges within their jurisdictions.

In Ebonyi, all 24 members of the State House of Assembly voted in favour of the bill during plenary at the Assembly Complex, Nkaliki Road, Abakaliki, following deliberations and consultations with their constituents.

The Speaker, Moses Ije Odunwa, said the unanimous endorsement reflected the lawmakers’ commitment to constitutional reforms that would strengthen the country’s security architecture and improve the protection of lives and property.

He said the demand for state police had long been supported by the people of Ebonyi, noting that the state had formally expressed its backing for the proposal during the National Assembly’s public hearing on the constitutional review.

Odunwa added that a decentralised policing system would bring security services closer to communities, improve access to criminal intelligence and make responses to local threats more effective.

Similarly, the Kogi State House of Assembly unanimously approved the proposed amendment, citing the need to tackle insecurity, strengthen local intelligence gathering and create employment opportunities for youths.

The Speaker, Aliyu Umar Yusuf, said the growing threats to lives and property required more responsive policing mechanisms, identifying terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, farmer-herder clashes, political thuggery and other criminal activities as persistent security challenges.

He said state police officers recruited from local communities would be more familiar with their terrain, residents and security concerns, helping to improve intelligence gathering, detect suspicious movements and respond swiftly to distress calls.

Yusuf added that decentralising policing could reduce administrative delays and improve operational efficiency, particularly in communities requiring urgent security interventions.

The proposed amendment seeks to establish state police services while retaining the Nigeria Police Force at the federal level.

The National Assembly has given state legislatures a 30-day deadline to communicate their positions on the bill, either supporting or opposing it. The endorsements by the five assemblies form part of the ongoing process required to secure the approval of the states for the constitutional alteration.

Presidency submits National Policing Bill, 29 amendment bills for review
MEANWHILE, providing an update on the reform, Gbajabiamila disclosed that the Presidential Working Group submitted the draft National Policing Bill and 29 consequential amendment bills to the Federal Ministry of Justice on October 19 for review.

The proposals, he said, would be presented to President Bola Tinubu for approval after the review and the Working Group’s final consideration, ahead of transmission to the National Assembly.

The proposed framework would allow willing and capable states to take greater responsibility for local security while retaining a strong federal police institution to tackle interstate crime and specialised national security threats.

Gbajabiamila said decentralised policing could improve local intelligence and response times, addressing what he described as the imbalance under which states were expected to respond to insecurity without corresponding authority to organise policing.

He acknowledged concerns that state police could be used against political opponents or vulnerable communities, assuring that the proposed legislation would provide enforceable safeguards, national professional standards and independent oversight.

“The concern that police powers could be used against political opponents or vulnerable communities is serious. Our answer is to place enforceable limits on those powers and provide remedies when they are abused,” he said.