Nigeria's proposal to create state police has reached the constitutional threshold for approval, with 24 of the country's 36 state Houses of Assembly endorsing the amendment, according to Okay News and SharpEdge News.
The announcement was made on Friday, October 23, 2026, by Femi Gbajabiamila, chief of staff to President Bola Tinubu and chairman of the Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill, according to Okay News. The Constitution (Sixth Alteration) Bill, 2026, provides for a dual policing system, with a Federal Police Service alongside state police services.
According to Okay News, approval by 24 assemblies meets the two-thirds threshold required under Section 9 of the 1999 Constitution. The National Assembly transmitted the bill to the state legislatures on September 16, 2026, according to SharpEdge News, and Kaduna and Abia were among the assemblies whose endorsements brought the count to the threshold.
Twelve states have not yet approved the bill, including Lagos, Ondo, Kano and Borno, according to SharpEdge News. That does not block the next stage, since the two-thirds mark has been met, but it shows the reform does not yet have unanimous support across the federation.
What happens next is procedural, not operational. According to Okay News, the amendment can now return to the National Assembly for transmission to the president for assent, and no state police force has begun operating. The separate draft National Policing Bill remains under review at the Federal Ministry of Justice, which is expected to return validated bills by October 30, 2026. Supporters argue local policing will improve responses to banditry and kidnapping; critics' concerns about political misuse, raised in earlier debate, will be tested in the detailed legislation that follows assent.
Photo: Kritzolina, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.