State Police bill: 35 of 36 State Assemblies approve. What it means and what comes next

Updated 29 October 2026. Five State Houses of Assembly approved the State Police alteration in its first month. Then 30 more voted in nine days. The bill crossed the two-thirds of states that Section 9(2) of the Constitution requires on 22 October, and now has 35 of 36 approvals.

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Sixth Alteration) Bill, 2026, which would allow states to establish their own police services alongside a Federal Police Service, now has the approval of 35 of the 36 State Houses of Assembly. No Assembly has rejected it. Only Katsina has yet to vote.

Under Section 9(2), an alteration passed by the National Assembly must be approved by resolution of the Houses of Assembly of at least two-thirds of the states, which is 24. The FCT has no House of Assembly and does not vote.

A slow start, then a surge

The National Assembly sent the bill to the states on 16 September and asked them to respond within 30 days. That was an administrative target, not a constitutional deadline.

Osun moved first, on 22 September, followed by Edo, Rivers and Oyo before the end of the month. Zamfara followed on 5 October. When the 30-day window closed on 16 October, only those five had acted. Many Assemblies cited recess, the need for public hearings, consultation with stakeholders, or talks at the Conference of Speakers. Some said they had not yet received the bill.

Then the votes came in quick succession:

• 20 October (11 states): Adamawa, Anambra, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Enugu, Kwara, Nasarawa, Ogun, Plateau and Taraba.
• 21 October (4 states): Akwa Ibom, Ekiti, Imo and Kebbi.
• 22 October (5 states): Abia, Bayelsa, Gombe, Kaduna and Yobe. This took the count past 24.
• 26 October (2 states): Borno and Ondo.
• 27 October (6 states): Ebonyi, Kano, Kogi, Lagos, Niger and Sokoto.
• 28 October (2 states): Bauchi and Jigawa.

Where each zone stands

Five of the six geopolitical zones have approved in full. In the North West, only Katsina remains.

Katsina's Assembly has passed the bill at first and second reading and referred it to a special committee led by the House Leader. The House is on recess.

Three approvals came with conditions

Not every approval was a plain yes. Adamawa's Assembly voted on the bill clause by clause, approved 24 of its 26 clauses and rejected two that members said were not properly defined. Ekiti granted its concurrence subject to an amendment to the proposed new Section 317A(5). Ondo sent its approval with observations, which Leadership reports ask for the same change.

State Assemblies can approve or reject an alteration, but they cannot amend it. Even counting only unconditional approvals, the figure is 32, well above 24. How the National Assembly records these three resolutions when it collates the states' positions still matters.

Approval with reservations

Lagos, which had long pressed for state police, approved the bill unanimously after cutting short its recess. But Speaker Mudashiru Obasa said the amendment leaves significant powers at the federal level, with the federal position prevailing where state and federal laws conflict. He called it a step forward and said he hoped future amendments would give states full control.

How we count

The Legis360 Constitution Tracker normally records a vote only when at least two independent reports confirm it. Two entries are exceptions, and the tracker says so. Borno's approval on 26 October rests on a single detailed report in The Nation; a later roundup quoted the Assembly's clerk saying the bill had not passed, but that quote matches one first published on 5 October. Niger's approval rests on Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago's announcement and a Leadership roundup; we have not found a report of the sitting itself.

Funding is still the open question

The alteration protects how money reaches a state police service: funds credited to it must be paid directly to the service, so that it cannot be starved by a governor. It does not say where the money comes from. That is left to later legislation.

The question surfaced on the floor in Benue, where members asked how state police would be funded when existing security agencies already lack equipment. In Kaduna, the Information Committee chairman said funding would be prioritised even if the state had to cut spending elsewhere.

On 27 October, the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, asked the private sector, through the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, to propose a financing and implementation blueprint for state police. He said states must show they can meet recurring costs such as salaries, training and maintenance, not only vehicles and uniforms, and that any private contribution must be published and independently scrutinised. Federal policing, he said, will remain available in states that are not ready.

What happens next

1. The National Assembly collates the resolutions. Once it has received and confirmed the states' resolutions, the alteration goes to the President for assent.
2. The National Policing Bill. The alteration creates the framework but does not set up any state police service. The Presidential Working Group submitted the draft National Policing Bill and 29 related bills to the Ministry of Justice on 19 October, with validation due by 30 October. That law will set minimum standards, certification, oversight and the fiscal conditions.
3. State laws and certification. Each state that wants a police service must pass its own law and be certified as meeting the national minimum standards before any officer is deployed.

Follow every Assembly's vote, with dates, vote counts and sources, on the Legis360 Constitution Tracker.