SUMMARY
This analysis provides a comprehensive review of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (Sixth Alteration) Bill, 2026 (Bill No. 7). The Bill introduces a fundamental structural transformation in Nigeria’s security framework by replacing the exclusive federal monopoly on policing with a decentralized dual policing system comprising Federal and State Police forces.
Key innovations in the legislation include:
- Decentralized Operational Authority: Granting individual states the power to establish, fund, and run their own policeforces while keeping the Federal Capital Territory under exclusive federal jurisdiction.
- National Operational Baseline: Mandatory inspection and certification of any proposed State Police force by the National Assembly before operational deployment.
- Federal Non-Interference Guardrails: Barring federal authorities from routine meddling in state policing, while establishing strict, conditional triggers for federal intervention requiring National Police Council approval.
- Political Insulation Mechanisms: Introducing strict removal thresholds (including two-thirds legislative majorities) for police chiefs and empowering state commissioners to challenge unlawful executive orders.
- Dual-Tier Oversight Structure: Creating State Police Service Commissions for local human resource governance and expanding the National Police Council to set uniform national standards and oversee top appointments.
- Resource and Equipment Allocation: Permitting State Police forces to acquire and use light firearms while establishing formal constitutional channels for federal financial aid and mandatory biometric data sharing.
INTRODUCTION
Since the adoption of the 1999 Constitution, police authority in Nigeria has remained centralized under a single national force. Amid ongoing national security challenges and growing calls for sub-national autonomy, the Sixth Alteration Bill, 2026 seeks to amend key constitutional provisions—specifically altering Sections 34, 35, 39, 42, 84, 89, 129, 153, 197, 214–216, as well as the Second and Third Schedules.
The primary objective of the Bill is to decentralize policing responsibilities to the 36 states of the Federation while embedding statutory checks to prevent political victimization, maintain professional operational standards, and preserve national cohesion. This document breaks down the structural innovations, legal safeguards, oversight mechanisms, and resource frameworks established under the proposed constitutional amendment.
Key Structural Innovations and Provisions
- Creation of State Police
- A Dual System: The Bill ends the central government’s monopoly on policing by allowing individual states to establish, fund, and run their own police forces through laws passed in their State Houses of Assembly.
- Federal Capital Territory Exception: The Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) remains under the exclusive control and jurisdiction of the Federal Police.
- Safety Checks and Minimum Standards
- Mandatory National Certification: A state cannot start running its police force immediately after passing a local law. The new force must first be inspected and certified as meeting national minimum operational standards set by the National Assembly.
- Interim Protection: Until a state’s police force passes this national inspection and officially begins work, the Federal Police will continue handling all policing within that state.
- No Lowering of Standards: State lawmakers are allowed to pass laws demanding higher operational standards than the national baseline, but they are forbidden from setting standards lower than the national minimum.
- Strict Limits on Federal Interference
- Non-Interference Rule: The Federal Police is forbidden from meddling in the day-to-day internal security operations of any State Police force.
- Strict Emergency Exceptions: Federal Police can step into a state only under three specific conditions: if there is a total breakdown of law and order that the State Police cannot handle, if the State Governor formally requests help, or if the State Police becomes completely unable to function due to financial or administrative problems.
- Required Approval: Even during emergencies, the Federal Police cannot step in without prior approval from the National Police Council.
- No Central Micro-Management: The central government is explicitly barred from making laws that give federal authorities routine power to command, transfer, promote, or discipline individual state police officers.
- Protection Against Political Misuse
- Right to Refuse Unlawful Orders: If a Governor gives a direction to a State Commissioner of Police that the Commissioner believes is illegal or violates national policing standards, the Commissioner has the right to refuse and refer the matter to the National Police Council, whose decision will be final.
- High Threshold for Dismissing Top Leaders: To prevent politicians from firing police chiefs at will, strict removal rules are established:
- The national Inspector-General of Police can only be removed by the President if the National Police Council recommends it and a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly votes to approve it.
- A State Commissioner of Police can only be removed by a Governor if the National Police Council recommends it and a two-thirds majority of the State House of Assembly votes to approve it.
- New Oversight and Management Bodies
- State Police Service Commission: The Bill creates a new government body in every state called the State Police Service Commission. This local body handles the hiring, promotion, and discipline of state police officers below the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police. For top leadership positions, it shortlists three qualified candidates and sends them to the National Police Council.
- Reorganized National Police Council: The Bill combines central oversight into an expanded National Police Council.
- Broad Public Involvement: The Council includes the President, State Governors, government legal officers, retired police officers, and representatives from civil society, including human rights groups, public complaints bodies, the Nigerian Bar Association, the Nigerian Labour Congress, the Nigerian Union of Journalists, and traditional rulers.
- National Oversight Role: The Council sets nationwide standards for police training, forensic laboratories, and criminal databases, while also recommending top leadership appointments for both Federal and State Police forces.
- Weapons, Equipment, and Funding
- Authorization of Light Firearms: The Bill updates constitutional rules on weapons to allow State Police forces to buy and use light firearms for regular policing, while heavy military armaments remain strictly under federal control.
- Shared Fingerprints and Forensics: Central criminal records, fingerprint databases, biometrics, and forensic evidence must be shared between the Federal Police and State Police services.
- Federal Financial Grants: The Federal Government is given explicit constitutional authority to provide financial grants or direct aid to State Police forces if recommended by the National Police Council and approved by the National Assembly.
CONCLUSION
The Sixth Alteration Bill, 2026 marks a historic shift in Nigeria’s constitutional development. By replacing the single national police model with a dual federal-state structure, the Bill addresses long-standing demands for localized security management tailored to local community needs.
Crucially, the legislation balances sub-national operational autonomy with centralized standard-setting. The incorporation of mandatory national baseline certification, joint oversight bodies, strict statutory triggers for federal intervention, and two-thirds legislative checks on leadership removal mitigates historic concerns regarding the potential abuse of state police by state executives.
If fully ratified and implemented, the success of this constitutional framework will depend on effective institutional capacity-building, robust inter-agency cooperation, transparent funding mechanisms, and strict adherence to national operational standards across all participating states.