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Police organisation

Nigeria Police Force

The single police force the Nigerian Constitution provides for — and which it provides shall be the only one, for the Federation or any part of it.

Fact-checkedLast updated

At a glance

Official name
Nigeria Police Force (NPF)
System
Nigeria
Level of government
National
Kind of body
National police force
Status
Currently operating
Facts last checked against sources
13 September 2026

What it is

Section 214(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides that "there shall be a police force for Nigeria … no other police force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof". Nigeria is a federation with thirty-six states and, by that provision, one police force: having states does not imply having state police, and Nigeria is the clearest constitutional statement of that anywhere in this registry.

What it covers

The whole Federation. The Constitution forbids any other police force for the Federation or any part of it.

Broad responsibilities

  • Policing the Federation as the single constitutionally provided force

Elsewhere on this site

Where this connects

Institutions: National police.

Sources

  1. Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)

    National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria (official text host) · Legislation · 1999 · link verified 2026-07-27

    The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended, the copy carrying amendments through 2011), downloaded as the full official PDF (775,326 bytes, 137 pages) and confirmed verbatim in two independent passes. 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 … no other police force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof" — a single national police); Exclusive List item 48 ("Prisons" — federal corrections); s 6(5) (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); 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). Establishes that Nigeria is a federation in which police and prisons are federal, while courts, prosecution and (residually) criminal law operate at both the federal and state levels.