The National Assembly has taken another major step towards introducing state police in Nigeria after directing its Clerk to forward the harmonised constitutional amendment bill to President Bola Tinubu for assent.

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, announced the development during Wednesday’s plenary, confirming that the required number of state legislatures had endorsed the proposal.

According to Kalu, 29 out of Nigeria’s 36 State Houses of Assembly had submitted their resolutions in support of the bill as of Tuesday, November 3, 2026. This means the proposal has crossed the constitutional requirement for approval by at least two-thirds of state legislatures.

Following the development, the leadership of the National Assembly instructed the Clerk to transmit the bill to Tinubu on Wednesday, November 4, for presidential assent.

The proposed amendment is designed to introduce a decentralised policing system that would allow state governments to establish and manage their own police services alongside the existing federal police structure.

Supporters of the initiative believe that allowing states to take greater responsibility for security could improve responses to crimes, particularly in communities facing persistent banditry, kidnapping and other security threats.

Kalu described the achievement as a significant milestone in Nigeria’s constitutional reform process, noting that the endorsement by 29 state assemblies represented an important breakthrough in efforts to restructure the country’s policing system.

The process is guided by Section 9(2) of the 1999 Constitution, which requires constitutional amendments to receive approval from at least two-thirds of members of both chambers of the National Assembly and two-thirds of the 36 State Houses of Assembly.

With the legislative requirements now met, attention has shifted to President Tinubu, whose assent is the next step in the process of bringing the proposed state police arrangement into effect.