Constitution (Sixth Alteration) Bill, 2026 — State Police

The Sixth Alteration Bill was passed by the House of Representatives on 11 June 2026 — the first successful state-police constitutional vote since the proposal was defeated at the State Houses during the Fourth (2018) and Fifth (2023) Alterations. As of 24 June 2026 the Bill is before the Senate; final passage still requires Senate concurrence and ratification by at least 24 of the 36 State Houses of Assembly, then presidential assent within 30 days under §9(3A).

The Bill is constitutional surgery on three sections. §214 is rewritten to delete the 'no other police force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof' clause inherited from the 1979 Constitution (itself a codification of Decree No. 34 of 1966 which had unified the regional Native Authority police forces into the single Nigeria Police Force). In its place a two-tier structure is established: a Federal Police Force (renaming the NPF) and a State Police Force for any State that chooses to activate one by law of its House of Assembly.

§215 is rewritten to split command authority. The Federal Inspector-General commands the Federal Police; each State Commissioner of the State Police Force is appointed by the Governor on the recommendation of a State Police Service Commission, and is removable only on an address of two-thirds of the State House of Assembly. The Governor may issue lawful directives to the State CP on matters of public order; where the State CP requires the matter to be referred, the dispute is escalated to the Nigeria Police Council rather than the President alone. Federal Police may only intervene in a State on three triggers: a breakdown of public order beyond the State's capacity, a written request from the Governor, or a Presidential proclamation under §305.

§84 is extended so that the salaries and allowances of State Commissioners of Police and senior officers of State Police Forces are a first-line charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the relevant State, shielding State police pay from gubernatorial withholding the same way judges' pay is shielded.

Sub-national forces created by State law in the meantime — Amotekun (South-West, 2020), Ebube Agu (South-East, 2021), the Benue and Plateau community-guard outfits, and the Hisbah corps in twelve northern States — receive a constitutional landing pad: they may be reconstituted as State Police Forces under §214 on application by the relevant State.