Overview
- The Senate approved the State Police Bill on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, after the House passed its version earlier this month and now both chambers must harmonize their texts.
- Under the proposed amendment each of Nigeria’s 36 states could establish a certified State Police Service that would handle local law enforcement while a Federal Police Service would retain national security duties like counterterrorism, border security and organised crime.
- The bill sets national minimum standards, requires state enabling laws, creates independent State Police Service Commissions, and bars governors from using police powers for partisan, ethnic, religious, sectional or personal purposes.
- Critics and experts warn key questions remain about how state and federal forces would resolve jurisdictional disputes, whether new forces will improve security, and the risk governors could politicize policing despite constitutional safeguards.
- Before becoming law the harmonized amendment must be ratified by at least two-thirds of state Houses of Assembly, a step that will determine when and how states actually set up trained, accountable police units and that could reshape security across the country.