The Rivers State House of Assembly has approved the proposed constitutional amendment seeking to establish state police in Nigeria, joining the Houses of Assembly in Osun and Edo in supporting the bill.
The proposal was transmitted to state legislatures by the National Assembly after it was formally sent to the Clerk of the National Assembly on September 16, 2026. Under Section 9 of the Nigerian Constitution, the amendment requires approval from at least 24 of the 36 state Houses of Assembly before it can proceed to the President for assent. The National Assembly gave the state legislatures a 30-day administrative period to consider the proposal.
During Monday’s plenary, presided over by Speaker Martin Amaewhule, the Rivers lawmakers unanimously approved the proposed alteration. Amaewhule explained that the bill seeks to provide a constitutional framework for State Police Services while retaining the Federal Police as the default police service in a state until a state police structure is legally established and certified operational.
The proposed amendment also provides for national minimum policing standards, civilian control, human rights safeguards, independent Police Service Commissions, cooperation between levels of government, criminal information systems and firearms control. It also provides for exceptional federal intervention where there is a breakdown, serious incapacity, national security threat or serious abuse within state policing.
The Speaker said the bill contains 26 clauses, including 25 alterations or substitutions to existing constitutional provisions. After the provisions were read, 25 lawmakers voted in favour, with none against and no abstention.
Amaewhule said the Assembly supports efforts to strengthen security and described the proposed sub-national police structure as a means of complementing the Federal Police. He also said the Assembly would continue to support measures aimed at protecting lives and property in Rivers State.
Source: PUNCH
