ABUJA, Nigeria — The Nigerian Senate passed a constitutional amendment bill to establish state police across the federation on Wednesday, June 24, 2026.
Nigeria’s Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the passage of the legislation after lawmakers voted in support of the proposal during a plenary session. Okay News reports that Godswill Akpabio confirmed the final vote followed a clause-by-clause consideration of the bill.
The upper chamber approved the legislation after considering a report from the Senate Committee on the Review of the Constitution, which was presented by Nigeria’s Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin. Nigeria’s Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, led the debate on the bill, which seeks to establish a state policing framework operating concurrently with the existing federal police system.
Under Clause 17 of the proposed constitutional amendment, “while the Federal Police Service will continue to be headed by the Inspector-General of Police, each State Police Service shall be headed by a Commissioner of Police appointed by the governor and confirmed by the legislature of the state.” Section 17(6) provides that “a governor may issue lawful written directives of a general policy nature to the Commissioner of Police on matters relating to the maintenance of public safety and public order within the state.”
Section 17(7) states that “a state Commissioner of Police shall not arrest, detain, investigate or deploy force against any person, political party or group merely for criticising the government except in accordance with the law.”
The lawmakers adopted a manual voting process for the legislation after abandoning plans to deploy an electronic voting system. Opeyemi Bamidele introduced a motion to use manual voting following concerns that technical glitches with some devices could disenfranchise lawmakers.
Several government officials witnessed the decision, including the Governor of Kaduna State, Uba Sani; the Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun; the Governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa; and the Chief of Staff to Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila. Following the adoption of the motion, senators were called individually to publicly declare their votes during the consideration of the constitutional amendment bills.
