By Anastasia Agunwa
The Anambra State House of Assembly has approved a proposed constitutional amendment to provide for the establishment of state police services in Nigeria.
The bill was adopted on Oct. 20, during plenary presided over by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Somtochukwu Udeze, following deliberations and a voice vote.
Udeze said the House had fulfilled its constitutional responsibility and directed the Clerk of the House to transmit the resolution to the National Assembly.
The bill, known as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Sixth Alteration) Bill, 2026, seeks to establish a constitutional framework for state police services and related matters.
The Clerk of the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, transmitted the bill to the 36 State Houses of Assembly on Sept. 16, 2026, for consideration and approval.
The proposed framework includes provisions for civilian oversight, human rights protection, national minimum policing standards, an independent Police Service Commission, intergovernmental cooperation, criminal information systems and firearms control.
It also provides for exceptional federal intervention in state policing in cases involving a breakdown of policing, serious incapacity, threats to national security or grave abuses.
The approval marks a step in the constitutional amendment process towards establishing state police services, a reform that has featured prominently in national discussions on addressing Nigeria’s security challenges.
Anastasia Agunwa is of the Ministry of Information and Value Reformation, Anambra State
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