The clamour for the establishment of state police gained renewed momentum on Thursday as senior government officials, governors, lawmakers, security experts and international stakeholders converged on Abuja to canvass a comprehensive overhaul of Nigeria’s policing architecture, arguing that the country’s worsening insecurity demanded a decentralised security system backed by strong legal safeguards, sustainable funding, community participation and improved intelligence gathering.
The consensus emerged at the ARISE News and THISDAY Town Hall on State Police and National Security, where participants maintained that although the proposed constitutional amendment to allow state policing was a major step towards addressing terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and violent crime, its success would depend largely on the legal, financial and institutional frameworks put in place to prevent abuse and ensure accountability.
The event came barely two days after President Bola Tinubu inaugurated the Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill to draft the legal framework for implementing state police following the Senate’s passage of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Alteration) (State Police) Bill, 2026.
The constitutional amendment, currently before the National Assembly, seeks to move policing from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List, thereby empowering states to establish and operate their own police services under a nationally regulated framework.
The debate over state police has intensified in recent years as Nigeria continues to grapple with multiple security crises, including terrorism in the North-East, banditry across the North-West, mass kidnappings, farmer-herder clashes, communal violence and organised criminal activities in several parts of the country.
Supporters of the proposal argue that decentralising policing will strengthen community intelligence, improve response time and make security agencies more accountable to local communities.
Critics, however, have warned that governors could weaponise state police against political opponents, suppress dissent and interfere with democratic processes if adequate constitutional safeguards are not entrenched.
