The House of Representatives on Thursday passed the State Police Bill, paving the way for the decentralisation of Nigeria’s policing system amid growing concerns over insecurity across the country.

The bill secured overwhelming support during plenary presided over by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, with 289 lawmakers voting in favour and only one voting against the proposal.

The House had dedicated Thursday’s sitting to the consideration and voting on the bill, following a surge in killings, kidnappings, banditry and other violent crimes in several parts of the country.

The session, however, witnessed a brief moment of tension when a member representing Kaduna State, Bashir Zubairu, raised a point of order, arguing that lawmakers had insufficient time to study the document presented by the House Committee on Constitution Review.

According to Zubairu, a member of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the report was only circulated to members on Thursday afternoon.

“Mr Speaker, this document was only made available to lawmakers in the chamber today, and many of us have not had the opportunity to go through it thoroughly. We cannot do justice to it under these circumstances,” he said.

The lawmaker was subsequently ruled out of order by the Speaker, allowing proceedings to continue.

As Abbas led members through the clauses of the proposed legislation, several lawmakers were heard raising points of order, but the Speaker declined to entertain further interruptions.

Before voting commenced, Abbas informed the House that the electronic voting system was not functioning, prompting the chamber to adopt a manual voting process based on attendance.

Of the 290 lawmakers present, 289 voted in support of the State Police Bill, while one member opposed it. The Speaker abstained from voting.

The passage of the bill marks a significant step in ongoing constitutional reform efforts aimed at addressing Nigeria’s security challenges through the creation of state-controlled police forces.