Thirty of Nigeria’s 36 state legislatures approved the state police amendment, Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele said; the Senate set Nov. 15 for six assemblies to report positions before transmission to President Bola Tinubu for assent.
The constitutional requirement is approval from 24 states, or two-thirds of the 36. Bamidele’s tally was already above that threshold, so the six assemblies do not each need to approve the proposal for it to meet the numerical requirement.
BusinessDay reported that Kano, Oyo, Cross River, Abia, Niger and Benue had yet to communicate their positions. The report did not name an official source for the list.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio urged lawmakers to allow the six assemblies more time. The chamber agreed to the cutoff unanimously. Akpabio said an assembly that had not responded by Nov. 15 would be treated as withholding approval.
