The Senate has given the six remaining State Houses of Assembly until November 15, 2026, to approve the proposed State Police Bill, paving the way for its transmission to President Bola Tinubu for assent.

The Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, disclosed this during plenary, stating that 30 State Houses of Assembly had so far approved the bill, surpassing the constitutional requirement of at least 24 states for the proposed amendment to scale through.

Among the states that have approved the bill are Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Ebonyi, Gombe, Imo, Kaduna, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara.

Bamidele said the number of approvals reflected widespread support for the proposed establishment of state police.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio appealed for the remaining six states to be given additional time to make their decisions.

He, however, warned that any State House of Assembly that fails to respond by November 15 would be deemed to have withheld its approval, a position unanimously adopted by the Senate.