The National Assembly has expressed willingness to amend the constitution to accommodate state police if the decentralization of the security system would end insecurity.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at a meeting with state governors on Thursday, had approved the constitution of a committee to explore the modalities for the establishment of state police.
Police is on the exclusive legislative list in the constitution, barring state governments from establishing state police.
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Senate President Godswill Akpabio had, earlier this week, constituted a 45-member committee to further review the 1999 constitution. The panel would be inaugurated next Tuesday.
Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu, in an interview with newsmen in Abuja on Friday, said the Senate was ready to read the body language of Nigerians and come up with laws that would make lives meaningful to all the residents.
“The parliament is to make laws and the laws that the parliament will make will not be generated outside of the interest and aspirations of Nigerians.
“So, if either the federal government or the state governors or whoever wants state police, so be it. We are ready to review our laws to accommodate it.
“The Senate is about to inaugurate the constitution amendment committee and then when we now put the panel in place, members will now go out there and meet up with all the critical stakeholders in Nigeria within the sectors, traditional rulers and so on and so forth.
“So, when they now meet and then we aggregate and we know that this is what Nigerians want, that is the law that we are going to make.
“Our laws would represent what the people want and it must be the people’s law. Once it is going to be the people’s law, whatever kind of police that we want in Nigeria that Nigerians want, that is what the National Assembly will give to them,” he said.
Adaramodu, however said the state houses of assembly and the governors would still have a crucial role to place because at least, 24 out of the 36 states of the federation must vote in support of any amendment to the constitution before it could be signed by the President.
He said, “Still on Constitution amendment, we need 24 states of the federation to concur with us. So it does not end up with the National Assembly.”
