House passes state police bill 289-4, sending security reform to Senate
The House of Representatives passed HB 617, a bill to establish state police, by voice vote (289-4) during Thursday's plenary (June 10). Speaker Abbas Tajudeen presided over the session with over 290 lawmakers present. The bill is part of Nigeria's Constitution alteration process aimed at restructuring security architecture to combat rising terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and violent crimes.
Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, chairman of the Constitution Review Committee, argued that state police would improve response times by deploying officers familiar with local languages, geography and communities. He noted that the current centralized system with command structures in Abuja has slowed emergency responses. The electronic voting system failed, necessitating the manual voice vote.
The bill now proceeds to the Senate for concurrence. If approved there, it must be endorsed by at least two-thirds of the 36 state Houses of Assembly before going to the president for assent. Despite the House adjourning until July 7 for end-of-legislative year break, this marks significant progress in the constitutional amendment process on state policing.
Will this shift to state-level policing actually improve your community's safety response to banditry or kidnapping, or could it create new security challenges with potential for state-level abuse of power?