Nigeria has taken the biggest step in decades toward ending its single federal police system: a constitutional amendment to create state police forces has won approval from 28 state legislatures, surpassing the threshold needed for constitutional change, the National Assembly said on Tuesday, November 3, Reuters reported from Abuja.

Source: Reuters

Policing in Nigeria is currently overseen by a single federal force for a country of more than 200 million people, and the reform would allow states to set up their own police services alongside it. Reuters described the amendment as one of the most consequential changes to Nigeria's security framework in recent years, in a country battling kidnapping gangs, insurgency and communal violence across several regions.

Source: Reuters

28State Houses of Assembly that have approved the state police amendment
24 of 36The constitutional minimum — two-thirds of Nigeria's states — required under Section 9 of the 1999 Constitution
Jun 24, 2026The Senate passed the amendment bill; the House of Representatives followed on July 23, 2026
Sep 16, 2026The bill was sent to all 36 state assemblies for their approval

Verified by the Clerk — after weeks of competing numbers

The confirmed figure comes from Kamoru Ogunlana, Clerk to the National Assembly, whose office said it had received the reports and accompanying votes and proceedings from the 28 state legislatures and verified their authenticity. His statement ended weeks of conflicting public numbers: the president's chief of staff Femi Gbajabiamila had earlier announced 24 approvals, while Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele had both publicly put the figure at 30. The Clerk's verified count is 28, BusinessDay Nigeria reported.

Source: BusinessDay Nigeria

The 28 approving states are Adamawa, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara, according to the National Assembly's confirmed list. The bill — formally the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Sixth Alteration) Bill, 2026 — seeks to provide for the establishment of State Police Services and related matters.

Source: ThisDay / National Assembly statement

The demand for closer-to-home policing is driven by attacks like this week's ambush on a police convoy in Zamfara, where at least eight security personnel were killed. Read: Zamfara ambush — eight killed in attack on police convoy

What is solid

  • 28 state assemblies have approved the state police amendment and the Clerk's office has verified their votes and proceedings — National Assembly statement via Reuters, ThisDay and BusinessDay
  • The 28 approvals exceed the Section 9 threshold of 24 of 36 states needed to alter the constitution — National Assembly
  • The amendment is not yet law: it must still be transmitted to President Bola Tinubu for assent — Reuters, ThisDay

What is only claimed

  • How many states had approved was publicly disputed for weeks: figures of 24 (chief of staff Gbajabiamila) and 30 (Senate leaders Akpabio and Bamidele) were announced before the Clerk's verified count of 28 — BusinessDay Nigeria

What happens next

The legislation will now be prepared for transmission to President Bola Tinubu for assent, Reuters reported. Approval by the states does not by itself put a single new officer on the street: ThisDay noted that the establishment of functioning state police services is not automatic, and the remaining constitutional, administrative and implementation steps — funding, command structures, and how state forces will work alongside the federal police — still have to be completed. Supporters of the reform have argued for years that a single federal force cannot police Nigeria's 36 states effectively; the amendment's passage through the states is the legal foundation on which those arguments now rest.

Source: Reuters / ThisDay