Breaking: House of Reps Passes Landmark State Police Bill

The House of Representatives on Thursday passed the State Police Bill after a decisive vote during plenary, marking a major step in ongoing efforts to reform Nigeria’s security architecture.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

A total of 289 lawmakers voted in support of the bill, while four opposed it, according to official proceedings in the chamber.

Earlier, the House had agreed that voting on the proposal would be conducted manually due to procedural considerations surrounding key legislative items.

In all, 290 members were present for the day’s plenary session.

The bill, which seeks to establish a state-level policing structure, is one of the most closely watched security reform proposals currently before the National Assembly.

Shortly after proceedings began, Kaduna lawmaker Bashir Zubairu raised a point of order, noting that the report of the Constitution Review Committee on the proposed State Police Bill had only been circulated to members that afternoon.

He argued that lawmakers had not had sufficient time to study the document before deliberation.

“Mr Speaker, this document was only made available to members in the chamber, and we are yet to go through it. We cannot do justice to it because we have not properly examined it,” he said.

Zubairu, a member of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), was however ruled out of order, allowing debate and voting to continue.

During clause-by-clause consideration, several lawmakers attempted to raise objections, but the Speaker proceeded with the process.

Before voting commenced, Speaker Abbas noted that the electronic voting system was not functional, adding that the decision would be taken based on manual attendance and recorded votes.