The leadership of the House of Representatives has constituted a Conference Committee to harmonise the State Police Bill, 2026, which has been passed by both chambers of the National Assembly.
House Spokesman, Rep. Akin Rotimi, confirmed the development on Monday, saying the committee will work to align the House version of the Constitution Alteration Bill on State Police with the version passed by the Senate.
The Conference Committee will be chaired by the House Majority Leader, Hon. Julius Ihonvbere, APC, Edo.
Rotimi said the House leadership also constituted two ad hoc committees aimed at strengthening legislative oversight and safeguarding the integrity of public finance.
The development comes amid renewed legislative efforts to amend the Constitution to allow the creation of state police as part of measures to address Nigeria’s worsening security challenges.
The Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, who also chairs the Special Ad hoc Committee on Constitution Review, had recently assured Nigerians and members of the diplomatic community that the proposed State Police Bill contains strict safeguards to prevent abuse.
Speaking during a reception hosted by the Ambassador of the European Union to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ambassador Gautier Mignot, in Abuja, Kalu said Nigeria’s current centralised policing structure is overstretched and no longer suitable for a federation of its size.
According to him, Nigeria covers 923,768 square kilometres and has more than 230 million people, yet it is policed by a single centrally controlled force that falls far below the United Nations’ recommended ratio of one police officer to 450 citizens.
Kalu said no federation of Nigeria’s size operates such a policing structure, noting that federations such as Germany, India, Canada and Australia police locally while coordinating nationally.
He explained that the proposal would allow states to establish their own police services with defined jurisdictions, independent oversight, professional recruitment standards and coordinated command structures.
“I often put it simply: the officer who comes from a community knows its roads, its markets, its people, its tensions. The officer who knows the forest will police the forest,” Kalu said.
Addressing concerns that state police could be abused by governors or political actors, the Deputy Speaker said the bill contains institutional safeguards.
According to him, the objective is not merely to decentralise policing, but to constitutionalise accountability.
“We have put guardrails in the way the State Police is going to be operated. The guardrails will not allow any abuse,” he said.
In a related development, the House leadership also constituted an ad hoc committee to investigate the inclusion of the alleged Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council in the 2026 Appropriation Framework.
The committee will be chaired by Hon. Yusuf Adamu Gagdi, APC, Plateau, who sponsored the motion on the matter.
Rotimi also announced the constitution of another ad hoc committee to examine delayed releases and inadequate funding of the 2024, 2025 and 2026 budgets.
The committee will be chaired by Hon. Abubakar Kabir Abubakar, APC, Kano.
The House said the committees reflect its commitment to fast-tracking constitutional reform, strengthening oversight, promoting transparency and accountability, and ensuring fiscal discipline in the management of public resources.
