Ekiti Assembly Passes State Police Bill

Members of the Ekiti State House of Assembly have unanimously voted for the proposed amendment to the 1999 Constitution to pave the way for state police in Nigeria.

Naija News reports that all 21 lawmakers present at Tuesday’s plenary supported the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Sixth Alteration) Bill, 2026, which passed its second and third readings the same day.

The vote signals the Assembly’s support for decentralising policing in the country.

The Speaker, Adeoye Aribasoye, thereafter instructed the Clerk of the House to send the bill, together with the Assembly’s observations, to the National Assembly.

Aribasoye, who spoke during the bill’s consideration, said the debate on state police had lingered for over two decades and that the Assembly now had the chance to make history.

He said Nigerians had long complained that the current policing structure could not respond swiftly to security threats.

“Nigerians had 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,” he said.

The Speaker observed that inadequate and uncoordinated local policing in parts of the country had fuelled insecurity, with consequences for people’s livelihoods, education, business confidence and trust in government.

He argued that a well-designed state police structure, guided by constitutional checks, would make the police more accountable by bringing leadership and supervision closer to the people and their elected representatives.

Aribasoye insisted that the time to act was now, describing state police as “a long-overdue practical necessity rather than a mere theoretical preference.”

After reviewing the bill clause by clause, the Committee of the Whole House recommended that the Assembly concur, but with a slight amendment.

The committee proposed adding the words “an Act of the National Assembly or a Law of the State House of Assembly, as applicable” after “this Constitution” in the newly inserted Section 317A(5).

It said the change would expressly acknowledge the law-making powers of both the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly, within their constitutional limits, to authorise relevant security arrangements.