The Osun State House of Assembly has become the first state legislature in Nigeria to approve the proposed constitutional amendment seeking to establish state police.
The lawmakers unanimously approved the amendment during plenary on Tuesday after considering a request from the National Assembly.
The development marks another step in the constitutional process required to establish state police services across the country...READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE .
The Speaker of the Osun Assembly, Adewale Egbedun, presented a letter from the National Assembly asking state legislatures to consider and approve the proposed amendment.
During the debate, several lawmakers expressed support for the establishment of state police, arguing that it could strengthen security operations at the state and local government levels.
Lawmakers including Lawrence Adeoti, Taofeek Olayiwola, Adewumi Adeyemi and Jeremiah Awoyeye supported the proposal, with arguments centred on the need for states to have additional security personnel capable of responding more directly to local security challenges.
The Majority Leader, Babajide Kofoworola, subsequently moved the motion for the House to approve the amendment. The motion was seconded by Tajudeen Adeyemi and was later adopted unanimously.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly has clarified that only the constitutional alteration bill specifically dealing with the establishment of state police has so far been transmitted to the 36 state Houses of Assembly.
The clarification followed reports suggesting that all the proposed constitutional amendment bills had already been sent to the state legislatures.
The Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, explained that the State Police Services Bill was prioritised because of widespread public demands and concerns about security and policing in Nigeria.
According to the National Assembly, the remaining constitutional alteration bills will be transmitted to the state legislatures after they are passed in identical form by both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
For the state police proposal to proceed through the constitutional amendment process, it must secure the required level of support from state Houses of Assembly before the final stages involving the Federal Government.
With Osun having now approved the proposal, attention is expected to shift to the remaining 35 state legislatures as they consider the amendment.
The development could therefore become an important stage in Nigeria’s long running debate over the creation of state controlled police services and how policing responsibilities should be distributed between the Federal Government and the states.
