The House of Representatives on Thursday passed the State Police Bill, marking a major step toward the decentralisation of Nigeria’s policing system.
The decision followed a plenary vote in which 289 lawmakers supported the bill, one voted against it, while Speaker Tajudeen Abbas abstained. The session was convened to deliberate on the proposed reform amid rising cases of killings, kidnappings, and banditry across the country.
The plenary, however, was not without tension as lawmakers debated the process. Kaduna lawmaker Bashir Zubairu of the African Democratic Congress raised a point of order, expressing concern that the report on the bill from the House Committee on Constitution Review was only distributed on the day of the sitting.
“Mr Speaker, this document was only made available to lawmakers in the chambers, and we are yet to go through it. We cannot do justice to it because we have not gone through it,” he said.
Despite the objection, the Speaker ruled the point of order out and proceeded with clause-by-clause consideration of the bill. The chamber witnessed intermittent objections, but proceedings continued.
Before the final vote, Speaker Abbas also noted that the electronic voting system was not functional, leading to a manual count based on members’ attendance. Out of 290 lawmakers present, 289 voted in favour of the bill.
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