# Nigeria's Senate passes state police constitutional amendment, dissolving 100-year-old single-force model
> A manual vote after the electronic system failed ratified a dual policing structure giving Nigeria's 36 governors power to appoint their own commissioners; two-thirds of state assemblies must still endorse it

**Meta:** type: event · date: 2026-06-25 · heads: Who Decides, The Long Game · 6 takes · 2 lenses · 3 regions

## Summary

Nigeria's Senate voted on June 25 to amend the constitution, replacing the century-old unitary Nigeria Police Force with a Federal Police Service and creating a new State Police Service in each of the country's 36 states. The electronic voting system failed mid-session, requiring a manual roll-call, but the final tally cleared the two-thirds threshold needed for a constitution alteration. President [Bola Tinubu](/en/entity/bola-tinubu) transmitted the bill to the National Assembly on June 15. Governors will now have authority to appoint their own commissioners of police, subject to state-assembly confirmation. The bill moves next to the 36 state Houses of Assembly, where 24 must ratify for it to become law.

## The split

Tinubu's administration and the ruling APC framed the bill as the most significant security reform in Nigeria's post-independence history, arguing that centralized policing has proved unable to tackle [Boko Haram/ISWAP](/en/n/nigeria-iswap-borno-massacres-june-2026), Kaduna banditry and [Niger Delta violence](/en/entity/nigeria-insurgency) simultaneously. Opposition PDP and Labour Party senators accepted the principle but raised concerns that governors in states with weaker accountability structures, including several with ongoing conflict, might weaponise state police against political opponents. The civil-society response was divided: Amnesty International's Nigeria chapter cautioned against politicized policing, while the Nigeria Labour Congress supported decentralisation.

## By the numbers

- 36, states that will each gain a State Police Service under the amendment
- 24, state assemblies (of 36) required to ratify for the bill to become law
- 2/3 of senators, threshold cleared in the floor vote
- 1914, year Nigeria's current unitary policing model was established under British colonial administration
- June 15, date Tinubu formally transmitted the bill to the National Assembly

## Why it matters

[Nigeria](/en/entity/nigeria) is Africa's most populous country and one of its largest economies, with active insurgencies in the northeast, northwest, southeast and Niger Delta simultaneously. The federal police model, unchanged since colonial times, has been widely criticized as structurally unable to respond to localized conflicts. State police could allow governors to build locally-adapted forces and improve response times, but critics argue the reform also risks creating 36 politically controlled security forces in a country where gubernatorial power is already concentrated.

## What to watch

- Progress through the 36 state Houses of Assembly, particularly in states governed by opposition parties or those with active conflicts
- Whether the federal government introduces a regulatory framework to prevent governors from using state police for political suppression
- Reactions from Borno, Zamfara and other high-conflict states where the reform could have immediate operational impact
- Timeline for presidential assent if the state ratification threshold is crossed
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## Regional takes (batched by bias / lens)

### Nigeria mainstream press
- **Vanguard** (Nigeria, en) — Details the clause-by-clause vote that renamed the Nigeria Police Force a Federal Police Service and created a parallel State Police Service in each state; notes the electronic vote system failed and the chamber switched to a manual roll-call, and records that well over the required two-thirds of senators voted in favour.
  > "The Senate passed the State Police Bill, renaming the federal force and creating a constitutional basis for state-level policing for the first time in Nigeria's history."
  Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2026/06/senate-passes-state-police-bill-its-now-federal-state-police-service/

### unlabelled
- **Punch** (Nigeria, en) — 
  Source: https://punchng.com/breaking-senate-passes-state-police-bill-empowers-govs-to-appoint-commissioners/
- **allAfrica** (Africa (pan-African), en) — 
  Source: https://allafrica.com/stories/202606250080.html
- **Washington Times** (United States, en) — 
  Source: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/jun/24/nigerias-senate-passes-bill-allow-creation-state-police-tackle/
- **Channels Television** (Nigeria, en) — 
  Source: https://www.channelstv.com/2026/06/24/senate-passes-bill-to-establish-state-police/
- **The Nation (Nigeria)** (Nigeria, en) — 
  Source: https://thenationonlineng.net/senate-passes-state-police-biill/

## Across the graph
- Related: [[nigeria-tinubu-three-year-reforms]], [[nigeria-iswap-borno-massacres-june-2026]], [[nigeria-2027-opposition-split]]
- Entities: Nigeria, Bola Tinubu

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Canonical: https://rbtfl.xyz/en/n/nigeria-state-police-bill-jun25