By Beatrice Gondyi
The push for the establishment of state police across Nigeria gained fresh momentum on Wednesday as Ekiti and Kebbi States endorsed the proposed constitutional amendment, bringing the number of supporting states to 15.
Ekiti State House of Assembly passed the bill, while Kebbi lawmakers adopted a resolution in support of decentralised policing to tackle insecurity.
Before the latest endorsements, 13 states — Osun, Edo, Oyo, Rivers, Zamfara, Kwara, Nasarawa, Ogun, Delta, Taraba, Cross River, Plateau and Enugu — had already passed the bill.
The constitutional amendment requires the support of at least 24 of Nigeria’s 36 states, representing a two-thirds majority.
In Kebbi, 20 lawmakers backed the initiative aimed at strengthening security and protecting lives and property across the country. The resolution was adopted during plenary presided over by the Speaker, Salihu Dangoje, following deliberations on the proposal presented by the Chairman of the House Committee on Internal Security, Muhammad Garba Bena.
Four members of the 24-member Assembly were reportedly absent from the session on official assignments.
Speaking after the plenary, Bena said lawmakers supported the proposal because of the need to strengthen security operations and improve responses to threats in Kebbi State and other parts of Nigeria.
According to him, the proposed arrangement would empower state governments to establish their own police services and recruit personnel in line with the provisions of the law.
“The establishment of state police will go a long way in strengthening security operations, improving responses to security threats and protecting lives and property in Kebbi State and Nigeria at large,” Bena said.
The Speaker subsequently announced the House’s adoption of the resolution in support of the establishment of state police services.
In Ekiti State, the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Babatunde Oke, said in a statement made available in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday that following the passage of the bill, the Speaker of the Assembly, Adeoye Aribasoye, had directed the Clerk of the House to transmit the document to the National Assembly, alongside the observations made by the state legislature.
The bill — the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Sixth Alteration) Bill, 2026 — proposing a constitutional framework for decentralised policing, was passed at the Assembly’s sitting on Wednesday, having been supported by the 21 members present.
Oke stated that the Speaker described the proposed establishment of state police as a matter that had remained at the forefront of national discourse for more than two decades.
Aribasoye, who said the Ekiti Assembly had a historic opportunity to make its position known on the issue, stressed the need for effective and responsive security, noting that “the challenges of policing in Nigeria require practical solutions capable of addressing the concerns of citizens.”
He added: “Nigerians have repeatedly expressed concerns over delayed responses to distress calls, limitations in operational reach and the distance between law enforcement agencies and the communities they were meant to protect.
“Inadequate and poorly coordinated local policing in some areas has contributed to insecurity, threatening livelihoods, disrupting education, undermining business confidence and eroding public trust.”
The Speaker said a properly structured state police system could strengthen accountability by bringing policing leadership and oversight closer to the people and their elected representatives, subject to constitutional safeguards.
He stated that the country could not afford unnecessary delays in addressing security challenges, describing state police as a long-overdue practical necessity rather than a mere theoretical preference.
Oke stated that the Committee of the Whole House, in its report on the bill, recommended that the Assembly grant concurrence to the proposed constitutional alteration, subject to an amendment to Section 317A(5).
The committee reported that it had considered the bill clause by clause and deliberated on the proposed constitutional framework for the establishment and operation of State Police Services, subsequently recommending that the House grant its concurrence to the bill.
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