By Samuel Solomon
The Senate is set to pass the State Police Bill on Wednesday, barring any changes.
The constitution alteration bill seeks to amend the 1999 constitution to decentralise the country’s policing system as part of responses to the spiralling security challenges facing Nigeria.
The decision was announced on Tuesday as senators cut short their end-of-session break to attend to the bill.
While the Senate and the House of Representatives were already working on the state police bill, President Bola Tinubu sent an executive version through a covering letter read to senators by the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, on Tuesday.
The presidential letter was dated June 15.
The bill primarily seeks to establish a dual policing structure for the country, where the federal police and the state police will operate side-by-side.
“It is a critical component to reorganise Nigeria’s security architecture”, Akpabio stated.
The bill was immediately referred to the AdHoc Committee on Constitution Alteration, chaired by the Deputy President of the Senate, Barau Jibrin.
The committee will report back to the Senate on Wednesday for consideration and voting on the bill.
Akpabio, while urging all senators to be available on Wednesday to perform an “epoch-making” constitutional duty, reminded them that the Senate would have to secure the majority votes of members to pass the bill.
“Every senator should endeavor to come tomorrow to be part of this exercise.
“We are going to be live tomorrow and your constituents will be seeing what you are doing”, he added.
Akpabio dispelled the fears over state police, assuring all that safeguards would be embedded in the legal framework to prevent abuses by state governors.
The Senate President noted that even the governors of today would be out of office tomorrow and should remember that the security of the citizenry must be uppermost in their hearts.
The Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, re-echoing the explanation made by Akpabio, said the bill would have to receive the support of two-thirds of all senators to be passed.
“We need a minimum of two-thirds to be able to vote to meet the number to pass the constitution alteration bill”, Bamidele stressed.
“State police is a non-partisan issue, which cuts across geopolitical zones and all parts of the country.”
Thus, the consideration of the bill would have commenced on Tuesday, but the Senate abruptly suspended plenary in honour of a member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Yahaya Tongo, who died on June 12. He represented Kwami/Funakaye/Gombe Federal Constituency of Gombe State.
Section 9(2) of the Constitution specifies the procedure for amendment, requiring a bill to pass with at least a two-thirds majority in both the Senate and House of Representatives.
This means a report on any amendment bill must secure the votes of at least 240 members (out of 360) in the House of Representatives and 72 (out of 109) senators.
Once the National Assembly has passed it, the report is forwarded to the State Houses of Assembly, where at least two-thirds of states (24 out of 36) must approve it.
Sources informed the newspaper that, considering the fact that state governors control the legislature in their respective states, the extensive discussions on framework and structure, especially on state police, are not out of place in a bid to secure their full backing.
After the approval of the bill by the state assemblies, the bill returns to the National Assembly for adoption before presidential assent or withholding of assent.
