The House of Representatives will on Thursday commence voting on a constitutional amendment bill seeking to establish state police, in what lawmakers describe as a major legislative response to Nigeria’s worsening security crisis.
The Deputy Speaker of the House and Chairman of the House Committee on Constitution Review, Benjamin Kalu, disclosed this on Wednesday while briefing journalists at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja.
The move comes against the backdrop of rising incidents of kidnapping, terrorism, banditry and other violent crimes across several parts of the country, fueling renewed calls for the decentralisation of the nation’s policing architecture.
The bill, sponsored by Kalu and 14 other lawmakers, passed second reading on February 20, 2024.
It seeks to transfer policing from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List, thereby empowering states to establish and control their own police formations.
To achieve this, the proposed legislation seeks amendments to Sections 197,
This post was originally published on this site.
