By Taiwo Scholarstica
Senate Majority Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele has said that constitutional amendment alone will not guarantee the success of state police.
Bamidele spoke on Thursday at the ARISE NEWS Townhall on State Police stressing that a comprehensive legal framework and local government autonomy are essential for its effective operation.
The Senate Leader explained that the constitutional amendment before the National Assembly is designed to provide states with the legal authority to establish their own police services rather than making it compulsory.
“It’s not every state that will immediately, after we finish amending this constitution, go to town to say, ‘We’re launching our state police.’ All we are trying to achieve with this constitutional amendment is to move this duty from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislative list,” he said.
According to the lawmaker, additional legislation would be required after the constitutional amendment to define the structure, responsibilities and operations of state police.
“We must see beyond constitutional amendment, because once the constitution has been amended, what is next?” he asked.
He said amendments to the Police Act and other relevant laws would be necessary to establish a comprehensive framework for the proposed policing system.
Bamidele also called for clear legal provisions defining the roles of existing paramilitary organisations and how they would work alongside state police.
“Also, we must address what becomes of the other organisations, especially including paramilitary organisations that were created for the purpose of helping to maintain law and order,” he said.
The Senate leader said the primary objective of state police is to strengthen community policing and improve security at the grassroots.
“The whole essence of trying to emphasise on the move for state policing is because we want community policing.
“If we do not address the issue of local government autonomy, we will not have achieved much, even with the creation of state police,” he said.
He added that the National Assembly had examined international best practices while working on a minimum national standard that would guide the operation of state police across the country.
“We are at a stage now where we must bring this to reality,” he said.
The push for state police has gained renewed attention amid growing insecurity, with supporters arguing that decentralised policing would improve intelligence gathering and speed up responses to security threats, while critics continue to raise concerns about political interference and abuse of power.