The House of Representatives on Thursday passed the State Police Bill, paving the way for the decentralisation of Nigeria’s policing system.
The bill was approved during plenary after 289 lawmakers voted in support of the proposal.
The session was presided over by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas.
Kano Times reports that the House had scheduled voting on the proposed State Police Bill amid growing concerns over insecurity, including killings, kidnappings and banditry across the country.
However, the process was briefly disrupted when a lawmaker representing Kaduna State, Bashir Zubairu, raised a point of order.
Zubairu argued that the report prepared by the House Committee on Constitution Review was made available to lawmakers only on Thursday afternoon, leaving them with insufficient time to study the document.
“Mr Speaker, this document was only made available to lawmakers in the chambers, and we are yet to go through it. We cannot do justice to it because we have not gone through it,” he said.
The Speaker, however, ruled him out of order and allowed proceedings to continue.
As Abbas took members through the clauses of the bill, some lawmakers were heard shouting “Point of Order,” but the Speaker ignored the interruptions.
Before voting commenced, Abbas informed lawmakers that the electronic voting system was faulty, explaining that the exercise would instead be conducted based on attendance.
Out of the 290 lawmakers present, 289 voted in favour of the bill, while one voted against it. The Speaker did not cast a vote.
The passage of the bill marks a significant step towards the creation of state police across the federation.
