Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr Monday Onyekachi Ubani, SAN, has described the passage of the State Police Bill by the National Assembly as “a significant turning point in Nigeria’s constitutional and security history” and “a bold and historic step toward restructuring its internal security architecture in a manner more consistent with the principles of federalism,” while warning that the reform will fail if local government administration remains dysfunctional, if recruitment and operational control are not insulated from partisan political interference, and if the broader institutional ecosystem necessary for community-level policing is not built alongside the constitutional amendment.
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In a detailed policy commentary titled “State Police in Nigeria: A Historic Milestone, But the Real Work Begins Now,” Ubani, who has consistently advocated for the establishment of state police over many years, welcomed the legislative milestone while sounding a series of cautions about the distance between enacting a law and implementing it effectively.
“The passage of the State Police Bill represents a major milestone in Nigeria’s quest to create a more responsive, efficient, and community-oriented security framework,” Ubani stated. “It is a recognition of the reality that security challenges are often local in nature and require local solutions driven by those who understand the language, culture, terrain, and dynamics of the communities affected.”
However, he added: “History teaches us that the success of any constitutional reform is determined not by its enactment but by its implementation.”
Ubani positioned his commentary within his own record of advocacy, noting that he has “consistently advocated for the establishment of State Police as an indispensable component of a truly federal system of government” at a time when the proposal “was viewed with scepticism and apprehension in some quarters.”
He stated that the centralised policing structure inherited from Nigeria’s unitary military past “could not effectively address the peculiar security challenges confronting a vast and diverse federation such as Nigeria.”
“Today, that advocacy has found legislative expression,” Ubani stated. “The National Assembly has now responded to that call.”
Ubani described the wave of insecurity that has exposed the limitations of centralised policing. “The growing wave of insecurity across the country has manifested in terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, communal violence, farmer-herder conflicts, armed robbery, and other forms of criminality,” he stated.
“For decades, security experts, constitutional scholars, traditional rulers, civil society groups, and concerned citizens have argued that effective policing must be brought closer to the people,” Ubani noted.
He described the reform as more than a security measure: “It is not merely a security reform. It is a constitutional acknowledgment that the challenges of modern governance require a rethinking of old structures that have become increasingly incapable of meeting contemporary realities.”
Ubani directly addressed what has been the most persistent concern about state police since the concept first entered public debate: the fear that governors will convert state police forces into instruments of political control.
“One of the major fears expressed over the years has been the possibility of abuse by State Governors. Critics have consistently warned that State Police could be transformed into instruments of political intimidation, electoral manipulation, suppression of dissent, and harassment of opposition figures,” Ubani stated.
He acknowledged that “these concerns were neither imaginary nor unfounded, given our political experience as a nation.”
Ubani noted that the legislative process reportedly incorporated safeguards aimed at preventing abuse and ensuring accountability, and that civil society organisations and professional bodies had consistently called for institutional checks to prevent “Governor-controlled police forces.”
However, he cautioned that the adequacy of those safeguards could only be tested by experience: “Whether the safeguards contained in the bill are sufficient to achieve that objective remains an issue that can only be tested by experience and implementation. The true measure of the reform will not lie in the text of the law alone but in the strength of the institutions established to enforce it.”
Ubani identified four conditions that must be met for state police to succeed.
First, recruitment, promotion, discipline, and operational control must be insulated from partisan political interference. If governors control who is recruited, who is promoted, and who is disciplined within the state police, the force will inevitably become a tool of the ruling party rather than a professional law enforcement institution.
Second, oversight mechanisms must remain independent and effective. External accountability structures, whether civilian oversight boards, judicial review mechanisms, or legislative committees, must have genuine independence from the governors who control the police forces they are supposed to oversee.
Third, human rights protections must be rigorously enforced. A state police force that violates citizens’ rights is worse than the current arrangement because it brings the instruments of oppression closer to the people while making accountability harder to achieve.
Fourth, the judiciary must remain vigilant and prepared to intervene whenever constitutional boundaries are threatened by government officers. Courts must be willing to check governors who attempt to use state police for political purposes, a function that requires judicial independence at the state level.
Ubani then turned to what he described as the most critical but least discussed challenge facing the state police reform: the dysfunctional state of local government administration.
“Beyond these concerns lies an even more fundamental issue that has not received the attention it deserves. And that is that State Police cannot fully achieve its objectives in the absence of functional local government administration,” Ubani stated.
“This point cannot be overemphasised,” he added.
Ubani argued that security is most effective when it is rooted in the community, and that intelligence gathering, crime prevention, dispute resolution, and early warning systems all begin at the grassroots level. The local government is constitutionally designed to be the closest tier of government to the people and should serve as the foundation upon which community security structures are built.
“Unfortunately, the reality in many parts of Nigeria is that local governments have become weak institutions with limited autonomy, inadequate resources, and diminished capacity to perform their constitutional responsibilities. In some cases, they exist largely as administrative extensions of state governments rather than independent centres of grassroots governance,” Ubani observed.
He posed what he described as the central question: “Can a State Policing system truly succeed if the local government system remains dysfunctional?”
His answer was emphatic: “It would be extremely difficult.”
Ubani proposed a policing architecture that mirrors Nigeria’s three-tier government structure.
The Federal Government should continue to handle national security, terrorism, border protection, and inter-state crimes. State governments should coordinate state-level policing and law enforcement. Local governments should serve as the grassroots hubs for community policing, local intelligence, conflict prevention, and citizen participation.
“Anything short of this integrated approach may produce a State Police system that is operationally active but strategically incomplete,” Ubani warned.
He argued that the mere transfer of policing powers from the federal government to state governments “does not automatically translate into effective grassroots security.”
“Without strong local institutions capable of facilitating community engagement and intelligence gathering, the security architecture will still suffer from a disconnect between law enforcement agencies and the people they are expected to protect,” Ubani stated.
Ubani identified the broader institutional ecosystem that must be built alongside the constitutional amendment for state police to succeed. This includes strengthening local government autonomy, empowering community security structures, promoting transparency in police operations, ensuring professional recruitment standards, and guaranteeing effective oversight mechanisms.
“The task before Nigeria is therefore not merely to celebrate the birth of State Police, but to ensure that it evolves into a professional, accountable, community-driven institution capable of enhancing security without undermining democratic freedoms,” Ubani stated.
Ubani concluded with a formulation that captured both the promise and the peril of the reform.
“If we get it right, which is a prayer point for me, future generations may look back on this moment as the beginning of a new era in Nigeria’s security governance. If we get it wrong, we may merely have decentralised existing problems without solving them,” Ubani stated.
“The choice, and the responsibility, now belong to all of us,” the Senior Advocate concluded.
The State Police Bill was passed by the Senate following its earlier passage by the House of Representatives, marking the culmination of decades of advocacy and debate. Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila had recently revealed that the constitutional amendment was “coming shortly” following consultations between the Presidency, the Deputy Senate President, the Deputy Speaker, the Inspector General of Police, and the Attorney General of the Federation.
The passage of the bill does not immediately create state police forces. The constitutional amendment must still be ratified by at least 24 of Nigeria’s 36 state Houses of Assembly before it can take effect. Implementation would then require enabling legislation at both federal and state levels, the establishment of institutional frameworks, recruitment processes, training programmes, and the allocation of funding.
Ubani’s commentary serves as a reminder that the hardest part of the reform, building the institutions, safeguards, and community structures that will determine whether state police enhances security or merely decentralises dysfunction, has only just begun.
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