An Adamawa-based mining advocate, Mohammed Abubakar, has raised alarm over the rapid progress of the State Police Constitution Alteration Bill 2026, urging the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), human rights groups, mining associations and other stakeholders to demand strong safeguards before final legislative approval.
Abubakar, who is of the Adamawa Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners Association Yola (AASSMA), was reacting to the announcement by Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele on Thursday, 30 October 2026, at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, Plateau State, that 34 State Houses of Assembly had already approved the bill. Only Abia and Katsina were outstanding. The constitutional threshold is 24 states. The National Assembly is expected to give final approval and transmit the bill to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for assent before December 2026.
While acknowledging the security challenges that have fuelled the demand for state police, Abubakar argued that creating state police structures under the exclusive control of governors without adequate checks would be dangerous. He cited examples of alleged gubernatorial excesses, including the use of state task forces against artisanal miners, electoral intimidation, multiple taxation along mineral haulage routes, and historical abuses associated with the pre-1968 Native Authority Police.
He warned that mining communities would be particularly vulnerable. According to him, state police could be deployed to eject artisanal miners and hand over sites to preferred investors, rendering mining licences and Community Development Agreements ineffective.
Abubakar called on the NBA to demand publication of the full text of the final bill and zonal public hearings, and to consider legal action if necessary. He also urged human rights organisations, including SERAP, Enough is Enough, BudgIT and Yiaga Africa, to insist on provisions such as independent police service commissions, federal investigation of killings by state police, and the right to sue state police at the Federal High Court.
Mining groups—the Miners Association of Nigeria (MAN), Nigerian Union of Mines Workers (NUMW), Federation of Artisanal Miners (FASM) and mining communities—were advised to demand an explicit clause excluding state police from intervening in mining sites, mining disputes or mineral haulage except on the written invitation of a Federal Mines Officer.
He further proposed five non-negotiable safeguards: independent appointment of state police commissioners through multi-stakeholder commissions; exclusion of state police from land, mining and chieftaincy disputes; strict fiscal certification before establishment; federal prosecution of human rights abuses; and a five-year sunset and review clause.
Abubakar recommended that the National Assembly delay final passage until March 2027 to allow proper insertion of these safeguards. In the absence of such protections, he said the President should withhold assent.
He concluded that the approval by 34 states did not equate to the consent of the Nigerian people and warned against public silence in the face of a policy with far-reaching implications for security, governance and the mining sector.
