The house of representatives on Thursday passed the constitutional amendment bill seeking to establish state police.
The lawmakers voted and passed the bill during plenary.
Before the house commenced consideration of the report, Usman Zubairu, the lawmaker representing Birnin Gwari/Giwa federal constituency in Kaduna, raised a point of order, arguing that members needed more time to scrutinise the document.
“It is an issue that all of us have to sit down and look into it,” he said.
But Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house, interjected him, saying the state police bill had already been extensively debated.
Presenting the report, Benjamin Kalu, deputy speaker and chairman of the house committee on constitution review, said addressing insecurity remains a national imperative.
The deputy speaker said the proposal had undergone a public hearing and enjoyed broad support across the country.
“There is a national consensus that state police will improve response time. We should make this constitution review a legacy,” he said.
Before voting commenced, Abbas said members would be counted manually because the electronic voting system was not functioning.
Lawmakers thereafter voted by a show of hands, with Abbas directing the sergeant-at-arms to conduct the count.
As the counting proceeded, some lawmakers protested against the process, repeatedly saying, “this is wrong”.
Announcing the outcome, Kalu said 289 lawmakers voted in favour of the bill, while four voted against it.
But Abbas later clarified that 289 members voted in support of the bill, one lawmaker abstained, and none voted against it.
THE BILL
Currently, policing and other government security services established by law fall exclusively under the purview of the federal government.
But the proposed legislation seeks to transfer the powers contained in the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislative list, thereby empowering both the national assembly and the state houses of assembly to make laws on policing and other security matters.
The bill proposes that national assembly would prescribe the structure, organisation, administration and powers of the federal police, while also providing the framework and guidelines for the establishment of state police.
The bill provides that no state police outfit would commence operations unless it has been established by a law enacted by the state’s house of assembly and certified as meeting national minimum standards in a manner prescribed by an act of the national assembly.
It also stipulates that the federal police would continue to perform policing functions in any state until a state police outfit becomes operational, and even after a state police force begins operations, the federal police would retain responsibility for federal policing duties and may assist the state police in accordance with the law.
The bill assigns the federal police responsibility for maintaining public security, preserving public order and protecting persons and property across the federation in accordance with the constitution and acts of the national assembly.
It also empowers the federal police to perform such functions within states to the extent permitted by the constitution.
Under the proposal, the federal police is prohibited from interfering in the operations or internal security affairs of state police except in specific circumstances, including a complete breakdown of law and order that the state police cannot contain, where a governor requests federal intervention, or where a state police force is unable to function because of administrative, financial or other challenges.
However, any such intervention would require the approval of the National Police Council.
The bill further provides that the Federal Capital Territory will remain under the territorial jurisdiction of the federal police.
