Senate passes Police Trust Fund Bill for Second Reading

The Senate on Tuesday passed for second reading a bill seeking to repeal the existing Nigeria Police Trust Fund Act, 2019 and enact a new legal framework to strengthen funding for the Nigeria Police Force.

The proposed legislation, titled the Nigeria Police Trust Fund Bill, 2026 (SB 1030), aims to provide sustainable financing for police equipment, training and welfare, while establishing a new structure for funding the Force.

Debate on the floor was heated, centring on the constitutionality of funding the Police Trust Fund through deductions from the Federation Account.

Leading the concerns, Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo warned that a proposed 0.5 per cent deduction could render the bill “null and void” if challenged in court, recalling that a similar arrangement had previously been set aside following opposition from state governors.

He also questioned how funding for the federal police would be harmonised with ongoing discussions around the creation of state police.

Other lawmakers, including Buhari Abdulfatai, argued that the core problem facing the police was not necessarily the volume of funding but the lack of adequate tools and operational support.

He noted that Nigeria currently has about 300,000 police officers serving a population of over 200 million.

The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, stressed that while there is broad consensus on the need to improve police funding, the overriding concern remains compliance with the Constitution.

“We make the laws; we cannot also break the laws. The Constitution of Nigeria is the ground norm,” he said.

Akpabio urged his colleagues to interrogate whether the bill aligns with Sections 80 and 81 of the Constitution of Nigeria, which regulate withdrawals from the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

In response, Mohammed Tahir Monguno cited Section 80(2) to argue that the National Assembly possesses the authority to legislate expenditures charged to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

However, the Senate President countered that Section 81 requires such expenditures to be incorporated into the annual budget estimates, rather than being implemented as a direct statutory deduction.

Following the debate, Akpabio put the bill to a voice vote, with the “Ayes” prevailing and the legislation scaling second reading.

He noted that a public hearing would address lingering concerns, including accountability for previous Police Trust Fund expenditures, alternative sources of funding, and whether the proposed framework would accommodate state policing structures.

Akpabio also directed the Senate Committee on Police Affairs to brief the leadership on how past Trust Fund allocations were utilised.

The bill has now been referred to the Senate Committee on Police Affairs, which is expected to report back to the chamber within two weeks.