The National Assembly has transmitted the proposed state police bill to President Bola Tinubu for assent after 30 state Houses of Assembly approved the constitutional amendment seeking to decentralise policing in Nigeria.

The development was announced during Wednesday’s plenary sitting, following the receipt of the required number of approvals from state legislatures.

Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau read a notice from the Clerk of the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, informing lawmakers that 29 state assemblies had communicated their approval of the bill as of the close of business on Tuesday, November 3.

The notice further disclosed that the leadership of the National Assembly had directed the clerk to transmit the bill to President Tinubu on Wednesday, November 4, for presidential assent.

However, Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele subsequently announced that 30 state assemblies had approved the proposed amendment, exceeding the constitutional requirement.

The 30 states are Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.

Bamidele explained that the 30 approvals surpassed the two-thirds requirement of the 36 state assemblies, which translates to at least 24 states.

He said the constitutional amendment process required three stages: passage by the National Assembly, approval by at least two-thirds of state Houses of Assembly, and presidential assent.

According to him, the transmission of the bill to the President represents the completion of the legislative stages of the process, leaving presidential assent as the final constitutional requirement.

Bamidele described the development as a positive step for Nigeria’s democracy, noting that the requirement for state-level approval was designed to ensure that constitutional amendments enjoyed broad support across the country’s federating units.

Earlier, the Senate had extended the deadline for the six state assemblies yet to communicate their positions on the bill to November 15.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio said any state assembly that failed to communicate its decision by the deadline would be deemed to have withheld its approval. The Senate subsequently adopted the position unanimously.

The proposed amendment seeks to alter the 1999 Constitution to provide a legal framework for the establishment of state police services, a major security reform intended to decentralise the country’s policing architecture.

The proposal is expected to give state governments a constitutional basis to establish and manage their own police services, complementing the existing federal police structure.

Proponents of state police have consistently argued that decentralising policing would improve intelligence gathering, strengthen community-based security and enable faster responses to crimes, particularly in rural communities and areas facing persistent security challenges.

However, the proposal has also generated concerns about possible political interference, abuse of power and the potential use of state police against political opponents.

President Tinubu’s assent is now required to complete the constitutional amendment process and bring the proposed reform a step closer to implementation.