Nigeria
Sources for Nigeria
Every source used for the Nigeria pages, what each supports, how it was accessed, and where its scope ends.
Facts verified: · Sources last checked:
This is a static reference page, not a live feed — check anything you intend to act on with the official source.
The Nigeria pages rest on the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, in the copy hosted by the National Human Rights Commission, read verbatim including the Second Schedule legislative lists. That copy predates the 2010 alterations, so on 10 October 2026 every provision relied on was checked against each alteration Act found, from 2010 to 2023; where an Act changed one, the page says so. The other sources are the World Prison Brief; a 2004 Human Rights Watch report (for the dating of the northern Sharia penal codes); the National Assembly Library Trust Fund and a Reuters report (for the status of the pending state-police bill). Each was read or retrieved and confirmed on 27 July 2026 and independently re-checked, except the Reuters report, read on 10 October 2026, when the Constitution was also re-read; the constitutional quotes, the tier allocation, the prison figures and the twelve-state Sharia list were confirmed verbatim.
The full register, with the precise scope and stated limitations of every source, is published in the repository at docs/research/nigeria-source-register.md.
Sources
Sources
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (text predating the Third Alteration Act 2010)
National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria (official text host) · Legislation · 1999 · link verified 2026-10-10
The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as published by the National Human Rights Commission. This copy predates the Third Alteration Act 2010: its section 6(5) does not list the National Industrial Court, which that Act added, and its Second Schedule still lists "Prisons" as Exclusive List item 48, which the Fifth Alteration (No. 15) Act 2023 deleted. It is cited for the provisions it states, not as the current text, and no consolidated official text was found. Supports: s 4 and the Second Schedule (the division of legislative power — the Exclusive Legislative List for the Federation, the Concurrent List for both, and residual matters for the States under s 4(7)); Exclusive List item 45 and s 214(1) ("There shall be a police force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and subject to the provisions of this section no other police force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof" — a single national police); s 6(5) as enacted (the superior courts of record — the federal Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, Federal High Court and FCT High Court, and the State High Courts, Sharia Courts of Appeal and Customary Courts of Appeal; the National Industrial Court was added in 2010); s 230/233/235 (the Supreme Court as apex, its decisions final); s 237 (the Court of Appeal); s 275/280 (State Sharia and Customary Courts of Appeal, headed by a Grand Kadi); s 150/174 (the Attorney-General of the Federation, a Minister and Chief Law Officer, with power to institute, take over or discontinue federal prosecutions) and s 195/211 (each State Attorney-General with the mirror power for state offences); s 215 (the Inspector-General commanding the Nigeria Police Force, with the President's lawful-directions power); s 153 and the Third Schedule (the National Judicial Council, the Police Service Commission and the Nigeria Police Council); and s 81(3)/292 (judicial funding through the NJC and security of tenure). Exclusive List item 48 ("Prisons") is cited only as the position before 3 March 2023. Each provision cited here was re-read in this copy on 10 October 2026 and checked against every alteration Act found: the First, Second and Third Alteration Acts 2010, read; the five Fourth Alteration Acts of 2017–2018, by their titles only (state legislative and judicial finance, political parties and elections, re-election after completing a term, pre-election matters, and minimum ages); and the seventeen Fifth Alteration Acts of 2023, by their titles, with Nos. 6, 9, 12, 15 and 23 read. Two cited provisions changed, as stated above: s 6(5), to which the Third Alteration added the National Industrial Court, and Exclusive List item 48, which the Fifth Alteration (No. 15) deleted. Four were reworded, and what is cited from them still holds: s 81(3), which the First Alteration substituted to add the electoral commission and the National Assembly while still paying the judiciary’s share to the National Judicial Council for disbursement; s 233, which the Second Alteration substituted while keeping the Supreme Court’s exclusive jurisdiction over appeals from the Court of Appeal; and s 292 and the National Judicial Council’s paragraphs of the Third Schedule, to which the Third Alteration added the National Industrial Court. No other provision cited here was altered by any of those Acts. A Constitution (Sixth Alteration) Bill 2026, which would provide for state police, had been sent to the State Houses of Assembly and was not law when checked. Establishes that Nigeria is a federation in which the police are federal, while courts, prosecution and (residually) criminal law operate at both the federal and state levels.
Human Rights Watch · Institutional (self-description) · 2004 · link verified 2026-07-27
The chapter of the 2004 Human Rights Watch report describing how Shari'a was extended to criminal law in northern Nigeria, read directly. Supports, by dated attribution, that from 1999 to 2001 twelve northern states adopted Shari'a criminal legislation (the report: "By 2002, twelve states had adopted some form of Shari'a into their criminal legislation" — Zamfara first, the Governor introducing Shari'a for criminal law within a year of 1999). Cited for the fact and dating of the sub-national criminal-law variant; the report's own assessments of that legislation's human-rights effects are contested and are not asserted here as fact.
National Assembly Library Trust Fund (Nigeria) · Government publication · 2026-06-26 · link verified 2026-07-27
The National Assembly Library Trust Fund report of 26 June 2026 on the Constitution (Alteration) (State Police) Bill, read directly. Supports, by dated attribution, that the bill had passed both chambers of the National Assembly and — verbatim — "To become law, the bill must now be ratified by at least 24 State Houses of Assembly before being transmitted to President Bola Tinubu for his assent," i.e. it was not yet law as of that date. Cited only for the status and procedural next steps of a pending reform; the debate over whether its safeguards are sufficient is attributed to its proponents and critics, not stated as fact.
Reuters — Nigeria sends state police amendment bill to state assemblies for ratification
Reuters (as published by Sowetan) · Journalism · 2026-09-17 · link verified 2026-10-10
SCOPE: the status of the state-police constitutional amendment on one date — nothing about its content beyond its purpose, its prospects, or whether it should pass. Reuters reporting, as published by Sowetan on 17 September 2026, read directly on 10 October 2026. Supports, by dated attribution, that "Nigeria's parliament has sent a constitutional amendment bill that would establish state police forces to the country's 36 state assemblies for ratification", and that "The bill must be approved by at least two-thirds of state assemblies, or 24 of the 36 states, before it can become law." It establishes the bill’s stage on that date only. Whether enough assemblies have since approved it, or the President has assented, is not established by this report.
Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research (ICPR), Birkbeck, University of London · Academic · link verified 2026-07-27
The World Prison Brief country page for Nigeria (compiled by ICPR from the national prison administration, the Nigerian Correctional Service), read directly and re-confirmed by hand. Supports: a total prison population of 81,902 including pre-trial detainees at 22 June 2026; a rate of 34 per 100,000 based on an estimated national population of 238.95 million at mid-2026 (UN figures); an official capacity of 65,035 dated 30 June 2025; and an occupancy level of 125.6% dated 30 June 2025. The population figure is dated June 2026 while the capacity and occupancy carry a June 2025 date, so the figures do not share a single reference date.