The House of Representatives has passed the State Police Bill following a decisive vote by lawmakers during plenary on Thursday, marking a significant step in the ongoing push for security sector reforms in Nigeria.
The bill, which seeks to establish state-controlled police formations across the country, received overwhelming support from members of the lower legislative chamber. According to proceedings, 289 lawmakers voted in favour of the proposal, while four members voted against it.
The decision came after the House resolved earlier in the day that voting on the contentious bill would be conducted manually rather than electronically. A total of 290 lawmakers were reportedly present during the plenary session.
The State Police Bill has remained one of the most closely monitored constitutional amendment proposals before the National Assembly, with supporters arguing that decentralised policing would help address Nigeria’s growing security challenges.
However, the process was not without controversy.
Shortly after proceedings commenced, a member representing Kaduna State, Bashir Zubairu, raised a point of order, expressing concerns that lawmakers had not been given sufficient time to review the report prepared by the House Committee on Constitution Review.
Addressing the chamber after being recognised by the Speaker, Zubairu stated that the document was only made available to members on Thursday afternoon.
“Mr Speaker, this document was only made available to lawmakers in the chambers, and we are yet to go through it. We cannot do justice to it because we have not gone through it,” he said.
Despite his objection, the lawmaker, who is a member of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), was ruled out of order, allowing deliberations on the bill to continue.
As the Speaker proceeded with the clause-by-clause consideration of the proposal, several lawmakers were heard raising points of order. However, the presiding officer continued with the proceedings.
Before the commencement of voting, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas informed members that the electronic voting system was not functioning, necessitating a manual voting process based on attendance records.
Following the vote, the bill successfully scaled the stage in the House of Representatives, bringing Nigeria a step closer to introducing a state policing framework, subject to the completion of the remaining legislative and constitutional amendment processes.
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