Ondo Assembly joins states backing constitutional amendment on state police

The Ondo State House of Assembly has unanimously approved a proposed constitutional amendment to establish state police in Nigeria, adding its support to efforts to decentralise the country’s policing system.

The lawmakers passed the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Sixth Alteration) Bill, 2026, during plenary on Monday, October 26, following deliberations on the proposed reform.

The session was presided over by the Speaker, Olamide Oladiji, while the Leader of the House, Olatunji Oshati, presented the recommendations supporting the bill.

Oshati said the proposed state policing arrangement could help address Nigeria’s security challenges by bringing law enforcement closer to communities and improving responses to threats at the grassroots.

The motion for the bill’s passage was seconded by Allen Oluwatoyin, who represents Ese-Odo State Constituency.

Oladiji described the establishment of state police as long overdue, saying the proposed system would enable security agencies to respond more quickly to crimes and other security concerns.

He also said decentralised policing could strengthen intelligence gathering and encourage proactive security measures to reduce criminal activities.

Following the approval, the Speaker directed the Clerk of the Assembly, Benjamin Jaiyeola, to transmit the bill to the National Assembly alongside the state legislature’s observations.

The decision makes Ondo the latest state to endorse the proposed constitutional amendment, which seeks to introduce a dual policing structure in which state police services would operate alongside the existing federal police system.

The development comes after the Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill announced on October 23 that 24 of Nigeria’s 36 state assemblies had approved the amendment, meeting the constitutional threshold required for the process to advance.

The approval by the required number of state assemblies clears a major hurdle in the constitutional amendment process, paving the way for the proposal to be returned to the National Assembly for onward transmission to President Bola Tinubu for assent.

The proposed reform is intended to give states a greater role in addressing security threats within their territories while retaining the federal policing structure.