The Senate has given the six state Houses of Assembly yet to approve the proposed establishment of state police until November 15 to communicate their positions, warning that failure to respond by the deadline will be regarded as withholding approval.

The decision followed an update by Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, during plenary on Wednesday, that 30 of the 36 state Houses of Assembly had approved the proposed constitutional amendment.

The number of approvals has exceeded the constitutionally required two-thirds majority of 24 states needed for the passage of the amendment.

However, Senate President Godswill Akpabio appealed for more time to enable the remaining six states to make their positions known, fixing November 15 as the final deadline.

Akpabio warned that any state assembly that failed to communicate its position by the stipulated date would be deemed to have withheld its approval.

Earlier, Bamidele listed the 30 states that had approved the proposed amendment as Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.

The Senate Leader explained that the constitutional amendment process involved three stages: passage by the National Assembly, approval by at least two-thirds of the state Houses of Assembly and presidential assent.

Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, said the bill was expected to be transmitted to President Bola Tinubu for assent.

The proposed amendment seeks to alter the 1999 Constitution to provide for the establishment of state police services, allowing state governments to establish and manage their own policing structures.

The reform is expected to decentralise policing and strengthen security operations across the country, particularly in addressing the growing security challenges confronting different communities.