By Oluwakemi Kindness
Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has assured Nigerians and the international community that the proposed State Police Bill contains robust constitutional safeguards designed to prevent abuse and ensure accountability.
Speaking on Tuesday in Abuja during a reception hosted by the Ambassador of the European Union to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Gautier Mignot, Kalu said the legislation is a critical response to the security demands of a nation of over 230 million people.
He stressed that the country’s centrally controlled policing system is increasingly overstretched.
According to him, the bill will empower states to establish their own police services with clearly defined jurisdictions, independent oversight mechanisms, professional recruitment standards and a coordinated command structure.
“Our objective is not simply to decentralise policing; it is 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,” Kalu said.
The Deputy Speaker noted that the proposal goes beyond political assurances by embedding constitutional checks that would prevent misuse of state police powers. He added that several federal democracies across the world have successfully operated decentralised policing systems.
Kalu also sought the European Union’s continued support for Nigeria’s broader constitutional reform agenda, highlighting key amendment bills on reserved seats for women, local government autonomy, judicial reforms, electoral reforms, citizenship reforms and fiscal reforms.
On women’s political representation, he lamented that despite making up 49.3 per cent of Nigeria’s population, women currently occupy only 19 of the 469 seats in the National Assembly.
He explained that the Reserved Seats for Women Bill seeks to expand inclusion by creating additional legislative seats exclusively for women without reducing existing seats.
“The bill creates additional seats reserved for women, taking nothing from anyone and adding voices for everyone. More than one million Nigerians have signed documented endorsements of it,” he said.
Kalu appealed to the European Union to provide continued technical support and comparative expertise as the constitutional amendment process advances towards ratification by at least 24 State Houses of Assembly.
