N’Assembly Sends State Police Bill To Tinubu For Assent After 30 States’ Approval

The National Assembly has transmitted the constitution amendment bill seeking to establish state police to President Bola Tinubu for assent after receiving approval from 30 state houses of assembly.

The development was announced during Wednesday’s plenary after Deputy senate president Jibrin Barau, read a notice from Kamoru Ogunlana, clerk to the national assembly.

According to the notice, the office of the clerk had received approvals from 29 state assemblies as of the close of business on Tuesday, November 3.

The notice said the leadership of the national assembly had consequently directed the clerk to transmit the bill to the president on Wednesday, November 4.

However, Opeyemi Bamidele, senate leader, subsequently read out the names of 30 state assemblies that had approved the bill.

The states are Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.

Bamidele said the 30 approvals exceeded the constitutional requirement of two-thirds of the 36 state assemblies, which amounts to 24 states.

He explained that the amendment process involved three stages: passage by the national assembly, approval by at least two-thirds of state assemblies, and presidential assent.

“Passage of the bill was meant to be done by the national assembly, which was done, and approval is meant to be done by at least two-thirds of the 36 state houses of assembly in the country, and assent is to be given by the president to complete this process,” he said.

Bamidele said the requirement was designed to ensure that constitution amendments received the backing of critical stakeholders across the different levels of government.

He described the development as a positive one for democracy and the country.

Earlier, the senate had given the six state assemblies yet to communicate their decisions until November 15 to respond to the bill.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio said any state assembly that fails to communicate its position by the deadline would be deemed to have withheld its approval.

The senate unanimously adopted the position.

The bill seeks to alter the 1999 Constitution to provide for the establishment of state police services, a proposed reform aimed at decentralising policing in Nigeria.

The amendment will require presidential assent to become practical.