President Bola Tinubu has officially transmitted a Constitution Alteration Bill to the Senate to establish state policing in Nigeria.
The executive communication, dated June 15, 2026, was formally read during a plenary session by the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
The bill seeks to legally transition Nigeria into a dual policing structure, effectively decentralizing law enforcement by allowing all 36 states to build and operate independent police services alongside the existing federal Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
For decades, Nigeria’s internal security has been heavily centralized under federal control.
However, compounding security challenges—including banditry in the Northwest, regional insurgencies, and rising cases of kidnapping—have pushed the country’s security architecture to its breaking point.
According to President Tinubu, the bill seeking state policing in Nigeria provides the long-overdue legislative foundation needed to decentralize operations and empower local governments, municipalities, and communities to protect citizens more proactively.
Senate President Akpabio immediately referred the executive bill to the Senate Committee on Constitutional Review.
He emphasized that localizing intelligence pipelines is a critical step in addressing emerging internal threats:
”You will know when foreigners infiltrate Nigeria and alert security agencies so they can react proactively rather than reactively.”
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that implementing state police forces will not happen overnight. The National Assembly intends to approach the rollout in two distinct phases:
Constitutional Alteration: Passing the foundational amendment to Section 214 of the 1999 Constitution.
Acts of Parliament: Introducing structural guidelines and strict federal safeguards to govern state-level law enforcement.
Because this requires an alteration of the 1999 Constitution, the bill faces strict legislative thresholds before it can be sent back to President Tinubu for final executive assent.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives had already passed the State Police Bill.
The move also follows repeated calls by the President for constitutional reforms to enable states to play a greater role in securing their territories.
In February, Tinubu urged the National Assembly to amend the Constitution to accommodate state police, describing the reform as necessary to tackle terrorism, banditry, and other security threats.
During his Democracy Day address earlier this month, the President vowed that terrorists, bandits, and their sponsors would face the full weight of the law, insisting that no mercy would be shown to enemies of the state.
Tinubu said more than 13,000 terrorists had been neutralised within the last year and noted that terrorism-related deaths had fallen significantly compared to previous years.
However, he acknowledged that the continued captivity of schoolchildren abducted in Oyo and Borno states remained a painful reminder of the country’s security challenges.
