By Our Reporter
The House of Representatives on Thursday passed the State Police Bill, a landmark move that paves the way for the decentralisation of Nigeria’s policing architecture amid growing concerns over insecurity across the country.
The resolution followed an overwhelming vote by members of the House during plenary presided over by the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas.
The lower chamber had earlier scheduled Thursday’s sitting for consideration and voting on the proposed legislation in response to the increasing incidents of killings, kidnappings and banditry reported in various parts of the country in recent months.
Proceedings, however, witnessed a moment of drama when a member representing Kaduna State, Bashir Zubairu, raised a point of order shortly after lawmakers settled down for the day’s business.
Zubairu informed the House that the report on the proposed state police arrangement, prepared by the House Committee on Constitution Review, was only made available to members on Thursday afternoon, leaving them with insufficient time to study its contents before voting.
Addressing the Speaker, he argued that lawmakers could not effectively deliberate on a document they had not adequately reviewed.
“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.
The lawmaker, who belongs to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), was subsequently ruled out of order by the Speaker, allowing the legislative process to continue.
As Abbas proceeded to take members through the various clauses of the bill, several lawmakers were heard shouting “Point of Order” in an apparent attempt to draw attention to procedural concerns. The Speaker, however, declined to entertain the interruptions and continued with the proceedings.
Before voting commenced, Abbas informed members that the House’s electronic voting system had developed a fault, making it impossible to conduct the exercise electronically.
He consequently directed that voting be conducted manually based on the attendance register.
At the conclusion of the exercise, 289 of the 290 lawmakers present voted in support of the bill, while one member voted against it. The Speaker abstained from voting.
The passage of the State Police Bill marks a significant milestone in ongoing efforts to reform Nigeria’s security framework and devolve policing powers to the states.
Advocates of state policing have long argued that decentralising law enforcement would enhance intelligence gathering, improve response times to security threats and address local security challenges more effectively.
However, critics have expressed concerns over the potential abuse of state-controlled police formations by political office holders.
