Benjamin Kalu: Vision and Determination in Implementing State Police Legislation

By James Nwachukwu

The passage of the state police bill is not merely a legislative milestone. It is evidence of foresight that anticipated Nigeria’s evolving security exigencies, and of resilience that endured the attrition of institutional inertia.

As the lead sponsor of the bill and chief advocate for state police, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and member representing Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu has transformed a once-marginal proposition into constitutional reality.

On June 11, 2026, Nigeria recorded history, a legacy that will redefine the security architecture of the country and enhance the policing system. The piece of legislation titled: A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 to Provide for the Establishment of State Police, and for Related Matter (Sixth Alteration), 2026 passed by the House after due diligence now grants each state of the federation the constitutional authority to establish its own police force. However, by virtue of its distinct constitutional status, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja exclusively retains the Federal Police.

Long before insecurity became the nation’s defining preoccupation, Kalu discerned a fundamental flaw in Nigeria’s monolithic policing architecture. Since April 1, 1930 when the current centralized model debuted with the amalgamation of Southern and Northern protectorates by the British colonial masters, Nigeria has operated a single police command from Abuja for a population now exceeding 220 million with 36 sub-nationals and 774 local government areas. That is difficult to manage by a centralized policing culture.

The truth is, times have since changed. The centralized model bequeathed by Britain at colonization was designed for a colonial territory with sparse population and limited highways. Policing needs were indisputably confined to administrative control. Such a structure cannot reasonably be sustained amid Nigeria’s demographic explosion and contemporary security threats.

Population surge, urban sprawl, banditry, kidnapping, and herder-farmer clashes have absolutely rendered the colonial inheritance obsolete. Response times from Abuja to remote LGAs now stretch to hours, sometimes days.

The rationale for the reform is simple. A centralized policing model inherited from Britain’s 1930 colonial administration is no longer viable for Nigeria’s population of over 220 million facing banditry, kidnapping, and herder-farmer clashes. So, decentralizing policing to states with local recruitment, faster response times, better community intelligence, job creation, improved investment climate, and direct accountability to citizens is necessary for effective security.

And so, Kalu’s position while giving the synopsis and debating the general principles of the bill on the floor of the parliament in a pin drop silence on June 11, 2026 was clear: “police centralization model has not worked effectively for us as a country.”

In a nutshell, the Deputy Speaker further argued that decentralization brings policing closer to the people, enables faster response, better intelligence and community trust.

However, state policing is not posited as a centrifugal threat to national unity, but as a complementary layer of governance: proximate, responsive, and intelligence-driven. By lodging the reform within constitutional amendment rather than fleeting statute, Kalu ensured its permanence, insulating it from the vicissitudes of administrative changes.

Designated HB 617, the bill did not begin as a popular measure. In the face of worsening insecurity, many had doubted that consensus on the bill was attainable. Skepticism mounted over the design and operations. There were apprehensions of gubernatorial overreach, fragmentation of command, and the politicization of force. But the legislative process offered a leeway as Kalu’s resilience manifested in methodical persistence.

As the lead sponsor of the bill, the Deputy Speaker eschewed rhetorical grandstanding for sustained engagement. Through iterative redrafting, committee deliberations, and extensive stakeholder consultations, he recalibrated the bill to accommodate legitimate apprehensions. Safeguards on recruitment, oversight mechanisms, and federal standards were embedded, thereby assuaging the fears that had hitherto obstructed consensus.

Of course, consensus was built on one premise: security is too critical to be sequestered at a single center. Not in today’s Nigeria.

Though, Kalu’s tenure as Deputy Speaker afforded him procedural leverage, it was mainly his constancy of purpose that proved decisive. Where others retreated after initial rebuffs, Kalu reintroduced, reargued, and repositioned the bill until the cumulative weight of empirical necessity outweighed institutional caution.

Recall that previous attempts by former lawmakers such as Senator Ike Ekweremadu and Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila to actualize the state police bill or its appurtenances failed, but Kalu, who also chairs the House of Representatives Committee on Constitutional Amendment, achieved its passage. This speaks to his legislative sagacity and shows he is, indeed, a man of grace.

On the question of abuse by governors, Kalu’s conviction remains: “The same way they manage federal allocation, they can also manage security.”

This feat is consistent with Kalu’s record of over 120 sponsored bills in the current 10th Assembly, several of which have become laws with societal impact. These include The Constitution (Fifth Alteration) (Transfer of Correctional Services to Concurrent List) Act which transferred Correctional Services from the Exclusive to the Concurrent List for joint federal and state control; the Nigeria Metrological Agency (Repeal and Enactment) Act which strengthened NiMet; the South East Development Commission (Establishment, etc.) Act which led to the creation of the South East Development Commission; the Federal College of Education, Bende (Establishment, etc.) Bill; the Federal University of Medical and Health Sciences, Bende (Establishment, etc.) Bill, and the Kampala Convention (Domestication and Enforcement) Act which guarantees rights and protections for Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria, with more bills still awaiting Senate concurrence and Presidential assent.

For the state police, the enacted framework is precise. Each state will establish its own police force, recruited from indigenes who know the terrain, language, and communities. State Governors will manage budgets and operations, subject to State Assembly legislation and standards set by a Federal Commission. The rationale is empirical, not ideological: faster response time because local officers know the shortcuts, hideouts, and community dynamics; better intelligence because officers recruited locally speak the language and earn community trust; job creation as thousands of youth recruited into state forces translates to employment and enhanced security; investment climate because as Kalu’s philosophy holds, “If the risk is less, invest in it,” and of course, capital flows to jurisdictions where lives and property are secure; and accountability because citizens can hold Governors and State Assemblies directly responsible for policing failures.

Remarkably, Nigeria is not on this path in isolation. Federal systems worldwide employ decentralized policing. For instance, the United States maintains 50 state police forces and over 18,000 local departments, with the FBI confined to federal crimes. Germany’s 16 Länderpolizei are administered by states, while the Federal Police secures borders and airports. India vests policing in state governments, with central agencies like the CBI handling inter-state crime. In Canada, the provinces also manage policing. This correctly paints a picture of effective policing with State Police model.

At this juncture, it will not be out of place to pay tribute to the greater authorities that vested interests in the State Police Bill and went ahead to ultimately work for its actualization.

This historic actualization would not have been possible without the visionary leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. By constituting a Presidential Think-Tank for the State Police and appointing Kalu as a member alongside the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Olatunji Rilwan Disu; Deputy Senate President, Senator Jibrin Barau, Chief of Staff to the President, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila; the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi (SAN) amongst others, the President demonstrated rare foresight. No doubts, the committee’s diligent work, rigorous consultations, and commitment to national interest laid the groundwork upon which this legislation rests. The President and the committee must be commended for their courage to confront a 96-year-old structural anomaly and for the intellectual rigor that guided their recommendations.

Equal gratitude is also due to the National Assembly, the lawmakers whose conviction and patriotism carried the bill across every legislative threshold. In an era when consensus is scarce, they recognized that the security of citizens transcends partisan lines. Their support actually reflects the legion of resolutions they churned out on security motions daily. It also reflects an understanding that representative democracy must ultimately answer the cry of communities under siege.

The scale of their consensus was evident on the voting day when, out of 290 lawmakers that attended the plenary, 289 voted in favour of the state police bill while one abstained.

With the legislation hoping to be actualized soon after the Senate would have passed theirs, concurrence reached and the Presidential assent given, Nigeria’s security paradigm would have been irrevocably altered for good.

Indeed, Kalu’s achievement reveals a salient truth of governance that prescience without perseverance remains a conjecture, and perseverance bereft of vision devolves into obstinacy. Indeed, he possessed both prescience and perseverance, however uncanny. This is a good way to mark and celebrate Kalu’s 3rd anniversary as the Deputy Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives having been sworn in on June 13, 2023. He has, indeed, made great impact with his legislative sojourn in Abuja.

*Nwachukwu, a current affairs analyst and social commentator writes from Umuahia, Abia State capital.