Olisa Agbakoba, a senior lawyer, has commended President Bola Tinubu’s government’s move to create state police but warned against it becoming like State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) and giving state governors unlimited power.

In a letter to the President Bola Tinubu’s administration addressed to George Akume, the secretary to the government of the federation, dated June 26, Mr Agbakoba said that state police was a welcome development that would, if properly implemented, enhance public security and bring law enforcement closer to the communities it serves.

“Beyond the question of state police, the moment also invites a broader conversation. Having devolved policing, is it not time to consider further technical devolutions such as drivers’ licences, prisons, marriage registration, arbitration, trade regulation, registration of business names, and all other matters best suited for states and local governments, so as to relieve the federal government of responsibilities that can be more efficiently managed at the subnational level? These are reforms worth serious consideration,” Mr Agbakoba said.

The lawyer, however, noted that “the well-founded concern that state police may go the way of State Independent Electoral Commissions and local governments, institutions established with good intentions but ultimately captured by state executives and rendered ineffective”.

“Devolution without institutional protection is reform in name only, and history has shown that where institutions lack genuine constitutional protection, they inevitably become instruments of executive power rather than servants of the people and the Constitution,” Mr Agbakoba pointed out.

Last week, Mr Tinubu transmitted the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Alteration) State Police Bill, 2026, to the Senate for consideration. In the same week, the Senate passed the bill to create state police.