The Presidential Working Group on Police Reform welcomed the milestone announcement that the constitutional amendment allowing for the establishment of state police has successfully crossed the required legislative threshold across state houses of assembly in Nigeria.
Reaching this threshold marks a critical turning point in Nigeria’s constitutional and security landscape, bringing the decentralization of policing closer to reality.
Alongside the landmark progress in state assemblies, the Working Group recently submitted the comprehensive Draft National Policing Bill (2026) and 29 consequential amendment bills for professional legislative drafting review.
These companion bills are designed to establish clear regulatory boundaries, operational standards, accountability structures, and seamless coordination mechanisms between federal and state-level security agencies.
Stakeholders within the working group noted that decentralizing the police structure is intended to improve grassroots intelligence gathering, enhance community policing responsiveness, and tackle localized security challenges (such as banditry, kidnapping, and communal conflicts) more effectively across individual states.
The legislative progress is viewed as a major victory for sub-national governance, empowering state governments to take a more direct, structured role in safeguarding the lives and properties of their citizens.
