Key points
- House committee begins consideration of the Executive’s revised State Police Service bill.
- Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu says the bill contains only minor changes to an earlier version.
- The Senate has already considered and adopted the Executive proposal.
- The bill seeks to amend the Constitution to establish state police.
Main story
The House of Representatives Committee on the Review of the Constitution has commenced consideration of the Executive’s revised State Police Service bill, which seeks to amend the Constitution to establish state police.
Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu disclosed this on Monday during a meeting of the committee in Abuja.
Kalu said the Executive’s proposal was substantially similar to the version previously considered by the House, with only minor amendments aimed at improving the clarity and operational framework of the proposed state police service.
He said the House and the Senate were working closely to ensure that the constitutional amendments were harmonised and successfully concluded.
According to him, the committee’s task is to examine the Executive bill clause by clause and make recommendations to the House, noting that the Senate had already considered and adopted the proposal.
Kalu explained that the amendment introduces changes to Section 318 of the Constitution to provide interpretation, transitional provisions and other measures required to operationalise the state police framework, alongside consequential amendments.
He also noted that the Senate introduced eight minor drafting changes affecting Clauses 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22 and 23.
The Deputy Speaker urged committee members to adopt, where appropriate, the amendments already approved by the Senate to facilitate progress on the legislation.
The issues
The proposed constitutional amendment is part of ongoing efforts to decentralise policing and strengthen internal security through the establishment of state police, a long-debated reform in Nigeria.
What’s being said
“The executive bill is substantially similar to what we have done, with a little adjustment here and there.” — Rep. Benjamin Kalu, Deputy Speaker
What’s next
The committee will complete its clause-by-clause review before submitting its recommendations to the House of Representatives for further legislative action.
Bottom line
The House has advanced work on the proposed state police framework, bringing Nigeria a step closer to deciding whether policing powers should be shared between the federal and state governments.
