Constitutional safeguards will prevent state police abuse – Kalu

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The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, on Tuesday allayed longstanding concerns over the proposed creation of state police, insisting that the constitutional amendment bill before the National Assembly contains sufficient safeguards to prevent political abuse and ensure accountability.

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Kalu, who is also the chairman of the House Committee on Constitution Review, gave the assurance at a reception hosted by the Ambassador of the European Union to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Amb Gautier Mignot, in Abuja, where he rallied support from European Union Heads of Mission for Nigeria’s ongoing constitutional reform process.

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The Deputy Speaker said fears that governors could weaponise state-controlled police formations against political opponents had been carefully addressed in the proposed legislation through constitutional checks and institutional oversight.

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“And to legitimate concerns about abuse, concerns we have heard, including from partners in this room – the bill responds not with assurances but with architecture. Our objective is not simply to decentralise policing; it is to constitutionalise accountability.

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“We have put guardrails in the way the state police are going to be operated. The guardrails will not allow any abuse,” a statement issued by the Chief of Staff to the Deputy Speaker, Levinus Nwabughiogwu, quoted Kalu as saying.

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The proposed establishment of a state police has remained one of the most contentious constitutional reform issues in Nigeria, with supporters arguing that the country’s highly centralised policing structure is no longer adequate to tackle growing insecurity.

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Critics, on the other hand, fear it could be exploited by state governments for political repression.

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Making the case for decentralised policing, Kalu argued that Nigeria’s size and population made the current arrangement increasingly unsustainable.

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“Nigeria is a federation of 923,768 square kilometres, home to more than 230 million people by United Nations estimates, yet it remains policed by a single, centrally commanded force, stretched far below the United Nations’ recommended ratio of one police officer to every 450 citizens.

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“No other federation of our size operates this way; from Germany to India, from Canada to Australia, the world’s great federations police locally and coordinate nationally.

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“Our proposal follows that settled wisdom: a constitutional framework allowing states to establish their own police services, with defined jurisdictions, independent oversight, professional recruitment standards, and coordinated command,” he said.

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Continuing, he said, “I often put it simply: the officer who comes from a community knows its roads, its markets, its people, its tensions. The officer who knows the forest will police the forest.”

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The renewed push for state police comes amid sustained calls from governors, security experts and civil society groups for reforms to Nigeria’s security architecture in response to rising cases of banditry, kidnapping, terrorism and communal violence across different parts of the country.

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Beyond security reforms, Kalu urged the EU to continue supporting the broader constitutional amendment process, describing the exercise as one aimed at strengthening democratic governance and improving service delivery.

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He disclosed that the constitutional amendment bills had passed both chambers of the National Assembly and were now at the crucial stage of securing approval from at least 24 state Houses of Assembly before they could be transmitted for presidential assent.

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“In this decisive phase, your continued partnership through technical cooperation, comparative expertise, and the candid counsel that only trusted friends can give matters more than ever.

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“The Office of the Deputy Speaker remains an open door to every mission in this room, and we welcome deeper parliamentary diplomacy between Nigeria and the legislatures of Europe.

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“What we have built together over these years, we can multiply in the years ahead.

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“For ultimately, the measure of constitutional reform is not the number of clauses amended; it is the number of lives improved because those clauses were amended.

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“When the history of this democratic era is written, let it record that Nigeria did not merely defend its democracy, it deepened it and let it record that Europe stood with us as we did,” he said.

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Kalu also canvassed support for the Reserved Seats for Women Bill, describing greater female representation in governance as both a democratic necessity and an economic imperative.

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According to him, women account for 49.3 per cent of Nigeria’s population but occupy only 19 of the 469 seats in the National Assembly.

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“The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that the full inclusion of women could add up to $229bn to Nigeria’s economy.

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“The bill creates additional seats reserved for women, taking nothing from anyone, adding voices for everyone, and over one million Nigerians have signed documented endorsements of it. My conviction is simple: no democracy is complete while half of its people watch governance from the gallery,” he said.

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The Deputy Speaker further identified other key constitutional amendment proposals to include local government autonomy backed by democratically elected councils and direct fiscal accountability, citizenship reforms to eliminate gender discrimination and introduce citizenship by investment, judicial reforms to strengthen independence and accelerate the dispensation of justice, electoral reforms, fiscal restructuring and expanded human rights protections.

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The reception was attended by Ambassadors of EU member states and other members of the diplomatic community in Nigeria.

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