Nigeria’s state police amendment has secured approval from 24 state Houses of Assembly, reaching the constitutional threshold for state ratification, the presidential working group said on Friday, 23 October.
Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu and chairman of the group, announced the development in a statement. He said the Constitution (Sixth Alteration) Bill, 2026, provides for a dual policing system and has obtained the support of two-thirds of Nigeria’s 36 state legislatures.
The statement did not include a state-by-state voting list.
The working group said both chambers of the National Assembly had already passed the amendment. It said the measure could now return to the federal legislature for transmission to Tinubu for assent.
The announcement marks progress in the constitutional process, but does not establish that state police services have begun operating. The implementing National Policing Bill remains a draft undergoing legal review.
Under Section 9 of the Constitution, an ordinary constitutional alteration requires support from at least two-thirds of all members of each federal legislative chamber. It must also receive approval by resolutions from the Houses of Assembly of at least two-thirds of the states.
The existing constitutional model places policing within a single Nigeria Police Force. Section 214 establishes that force and bars the establishment of another police force for the federation or any part of it, subject to the section’s provisions.
Section 215 puts the force under the Inspector-General of Police. State contingents operate under commissioners of police, subject to the Inspector-General’s authority. The proposed dual structure would replace that central institutional model with a framework for federal and state services.
A separate legislative package was submitted to the Federal Ministry of Justice on 19 October. The working group’s statement the following day identified a draft National Policing Bill and 29 consequential amendment bills.
The ministry is examining legislative drafting standards and possible conflicts with existing laws. After that review, the working group is due to consider the package before presenting it to the President for subsequent legislative processing.
The group’s public information portal describes state policing as an enabling, phased reform. A participating state would need its own establishing law and certification that it meets national minimum standards before beginning operational policing.
The proposed national framework covers inspections, criminal-information systems, data sharing, complaints, accountability, firearms control, federal intervention and transitional arrangements. The portal also identifies grant support as part of the intended architecture.
These provisions remain proposals. The portal describes a principal framework statute supported by targeted changes to existing legislation, much of which assumes a single national police organisation. The final laws would determine how authority, standards and oversight operate across the two levels.
Public consultation on the drafting exercise closed on 21 August. The working group says the memoranda received have been reviewed and their recommendations have informed the proposed legislation.
In Friday’s update, Gbajabiamila said the Justice Ministry was expected to return the validated draft bills on or before 30 October. Final consideration by the working group and presentation to the President would follow.
Image: ZholaBal, 6 March 2017, CC BY-SA 4.0. Archive photograph, not the October 2026 announcement. Cropped and resized; photographic adaptation under the same licence.
