By Okechukwu Onuegbu
Anambra state House of Assembly, Wednesday, endorsed the National Assembly bill establishing the State Police bill by altering the 1999 Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria.
The bill altered the relevant sections of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the creation and establishment of State Police (Sixth Alteration) Bill, 2026.
It reported that the bill was adopted during plenary through a voice vote following its consideration at a plenary section officiated by the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon Somtochukwu Udeze.
Udeze, who directed the Clerk of the House to transmit the resolution to the National Assembly, explained that the bill seeks to create a constitutional pathway for establishing State Police Services, subject to the Constitution and to an Act of the National Assembly prescribing national minimum policing standards.
According to him, it was an Executive Bill which emanated from the Presidency, preserves the Federal Police Service as the default police service in any State until a State Police Service is lawfully established and certified operational, and preserves the continuing federal policing role in every State and in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
It also established constitutional guardrails for civilian control, human rights, national minimum standards, independent police service commissions, intergovernmental cooperation, criminal information systems, firearms control, and exceptional federal intervention in State policing in cases of breakdown, serious incapacity, national security threat, or egregious abuse.
Speaking in an interview, the House Majority Leader, Hon. Ikenna Ofodeme explained that the law seeks to better the state security system to support the executive so that they will have unrestrained power to maintain order and security in the state.
He contended that bill would equally put an end to the routine of constantly getting orders from the Inspector General of Police on state security emergencies, expressing optimism that state governors will not misuse the state police against the opposition.
"It is an existing law that established Federal Police. So in creating a state police, there must be a law. Thus, when a law of police, already established is mentioned, you check out areas where federal police is mentioned. You recapture it for State Police. Where you have Federal Police Service Commission, you alter it for State Police Service Commission. That's what the Anambra Assembly did today," he said