Reps To Vote On State Police Bill On Thursday

By Olumuyiwa Olumuyiwa

All members of the green chamber have been urged to be present for the Thursday’s plenary session as the legislative branch will make its position on one of the burning national issues known.

The lawmakers will vote on a constitutional amendment bill seeking to establish state police on Thursday.

While emphasizing the significance of the Thursday plenary, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and Chairman of the Constitution Review Committee, noted that ALL lawmakers are expected at the session..

Kalu spoke on Wednesday during a brief interview with journalists in Abuja on the next line of action for the legislature on the establishment of state police.

The establishment of state police has been thrust to the front burner in Nigeria’s national discourse following a surge in the insecurity plaguing the country.

The federal government oversees the recruitment exercise of the police and other security services established by law.

But there has been agitation for the devolution of this duty to the state government in the face of festering insecurity rocking many states in the federation.

This has led the national assembly to initiate proceedings to review the legislation on police and allied matters.

The proposed legislation seeks to move such powers in section 214 (c) from the exclusive list to the concurrent list, to empower both the national assembly and houses of assembly of states to legislate on police and other security matters.

Kalu, who was flanked by members of the constitution amendment panel, said the legislature must deploy constitutional and legislative tools to address insecurity and close existing gaps in the country’s security architecture.

He said while the national assembly would continue to engage security chiefs, lawmakers have decided to prioritise constitutional amendments aimed at tackling insecurity, particularly the establishment of state police.

According to him, the parliament has been working on the proposed amendment and hopes it will improve response time to security threats.

“Hope is coming. By tomorrow, we will be amending the constitution by prioritising state police. We will vote on state police. Nobody is stopping it,” he said.

Recall that in December, President Bola Tinubu expressed confidence that the creation of state police would improve security in the country.

Meanwhile, there is a condition to be met before the bill scale through which is an approval of a two-thirds majority in both chambers of the national assembly.

To be specific, at least 73 senators and 240 members of the house of representatives must give the proposed legislation a nod of approval, and this should be followed by ratification by a simple majority in at least 24 of the 36 state houses of assembly.