The House of Representatives has said it will vote on a constitutional amendment seeking to allow the creation of state and local police as part of measures to address rising insecurity across the country.
Deputy Speaker and Chairman of the House Committee on Constitution Review, Benjamin Kalu, disclosed this on Wednesday while briefing journalists shortly after plenary.
Kalu said the House had decided to prioritise the state police proposal ahead of other constitution alteration bills because of the country’s worsening security challenges.
According to him, members who are currently outside Abuja on oversight assignments have been directed to suspend such engagements and return to the National Assembly on Thursday for the voting exercise.
The state police bill is sponsored by the Deputy Speaker and 14 other members of the House.
The proposed amendment seeks to alter the Constitution to allow states and local governments to establish their own police structures, a proposal that has gained renewed attention amid kidnapping, banditry, terrorism and other security threats in many parts of the country.
Meanwhile, the House also asked the Nigerian Army Council to discontinue the automatic merger of service years for officers commissioned through the Short Service Combatant Commission, SSCC, Direct Short Service Commission, DSSC, and Direct Regular Commission, DRC.
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Zakaria Dauda Nyampa, representing Michika/Madagali Federal Constituency of Adamawa State.
The House said the merger of service years should be made optional and applied only upon the written request of affected officers for pension computation purposes.
It also urged the Armed Forces Council to harmonise service reckonability across the Army, Navy and Air Force to ensure fairness, cohesion and doctrinal uniformity within the Armed Forces.
The lawmakers further asked the Chief of Army Staff to conduct proper sensitisation and issue transitional guidelines to prevent confusion and misinterpretation of the policy.
They also directed the Nigerian Army Council to undertake legal and administrative reviews to avoid possible litigation arising from the retroactive application of the policy.
The House mandated its Committee on Army to carry out thorough oversight to protect the rights, welfare and career progression of officers in the Nigerian Army, while ensuring consistency with Armed Forces regulations and international best practices.
Moving the motion, Nyampa said the current policy of the Nigerian Army automatically merges the years of service of personnel commissioned through SSCC, DSSC and DRC.
He said the policy counts years served as soldiers, including periods spent in university education or awaiting commissioning, as part of their total reckonable service.
According to him, the policy is inconsistent with the Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service, HTACOS, 2017 Revised, which defines an officer’s military service as a period of unbroken service in the Armed Forces from the date of commission to the date of retirement.
Nyampa argued that the policy also violates the doctrine of legitimate expectation and principles of contractual fairness.
He said the automatic merger policy is discriminatory, weakens morale and cohesion within the officer corps, accelerates the retirement of experienced personnel, creates manpower gaps, increases recruitment costs and erodes institutional memory.
The lawmaker added that the policy deviates from international best practices and should be reviewed to ensure fairness to affected officers.
The resolutions formed part of the House’s wider legislative interventions on security, institutional reform and personnel welfare.
