The House of Representatives has approved a constitutional amendment bill that seeks to create state police across Nigeria.
The bill was passed during Thursday’s plenary after lawmakers voted in support of the proposal.
Before the debate began, Usman Zubairu, who represents Birnin Gwari/Giwa Federal Constituency in Kaduna State, asked the House to postpone consideration of the report.
Zubairu argued that members needed more time to study such an important proposal.
“It is an issue that all of us have to sit down and look into it,” he said.
However, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas rejected the request, saying lawmakers had already held extensive discussions on the state police bill.
Presenting the report, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, who also chairs the House Committee on Constitution Review, said the worsening security situation in the country made the establishment of state police necessary.
Kalu explained that the proposal had gone through public hearings and received widespread support from Nigerians.
“There is a national consensus that state police will improve response time. We should make this constitution review a legacy,” he said.
Since the electronic voting system was not working, Abbas directed lawmakers to vote by a show of hands, with the Sergeant-at-Arms manually counting the votes.
While the counting was ongoing, some lawmakers objected to the method, insisting the process was not proper.
After the count, Kalu announced that 289 lawmakers supported the bill, while four voted against it.
The Speaker later clarified that 289 lawmakers voted in favour, no one voted against the bill, and one member abstained.
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