The National Assembly (NASS) has received 35 out of the 44 constitutional amendment bills sent to the state houses of assembly for consideration, passed in March 2022.
One of the highly anticipated bills seeks to give autonomy to local governments by abrogating the State Joint Local Government Account and providing for a Special Account into which shall be paid all allocations due to Local Government Councils from the Federation Account and the Government of the State was not passed by the states.
According to the Chairman of NASS Adhoc Committee on Constitution Review, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, represented by Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, the 35 bills have been passed by
two-thirds of the state houses of assembly, which is in line with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.
Twenty-seven State Houses of Assembly that passed the Amendment Bills include – Abia, Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross-River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Rivers and Yobe, have forwarded their resolutions on the bills.
The Senate had in March 2022, received 68 bills, seeking to alter the provisions of the 1999 Constitution from memoranda submitted by members of the public.
Out of the 68 bills, the two chambers of the National Assembly approved 44 of the bills which were transmitted to the State Houses of Assembly for consideration.
The 35 items passed by states include,
Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No 3, (Change of Names of Afikpo North and Afikpo South LocalGovernment Areas (Ebonyi State), Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No 4 (Change of Name of Kunchi Local Government Area (Kano State); Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No 5 (Change of Names of Egbado North and Egbado South Local Government Areas (Ogun State) and Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No 7 (Correction of the name of Atigbo Local Government Area (Oyo State).
Others are Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No 8 (Correction of Name of Obia/Akpor Local Government Area (Rivers State); Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No 9 (Financial autonomy of State Legislatures and State Judiciary); Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 10 (Enforcement of Legislative Summon); Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 11 (Inauguration of Members-Elect), Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 21 (Deletion of reference in the Constitution to the provisions of the Criminal Code, Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Act, Criminal Procedure Code or Evidence Act), Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 22 (Provision for Intervening Events in the Computation of Time for the Determination of Pre-Election Petitions, Election Petitions and Appeals therefrom).
Others are :
Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 24 (Expansion of the Interpretation of Judicial Office); Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 25 (Appointment of Secretary of the National Judicial Council); Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 29 (Devolution of Powers (Airports));
Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 30 (Devolution of Powers (Fingerprints, identification and criminal records). Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 31 (Devolution of Powers (Correctional Services), Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 32 (Devolution of Powers (Railways), Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 33 (Devolution of Powers (National Grid System); Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 39 (Power to enforce compliance of remittance of Accruals into the Federation Account and Review of Revenue Allocation Formular) and Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 40 (Independence of Certain bodies).
Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 41 (Removal of Transitional Law-making Powers of the Executive, Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 43 (Domestication of Treaties); Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 44 (Timeline for the Presentation of Appropriation Bills); Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 45 (Timeframe for the Submission of the Names of Ministerial or Commissioner Nominees); Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 48 (Power to summon the President and Governors);
Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 49 (Authorization of Expenditure); Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 50 (Replacement of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation with the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government); Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 51 (Creation of the Office of Accountant-General of the Federal Government), and Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 53 (Separation of the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and the State from the office of the Minister or Commissioner for Justice).
Others are :
Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 54 (State of the Nation and State of the State Address); Bill No. 55 (Composition of Members of the Council of State), Bill No. 57 (Restriction on Formation of Political Parties); Bill No. 62 (Correction in the Definition of the Boundary of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja); Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 63 (Fundamental Human Rights); Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 65 (Food Security) and Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 66 (Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps).
The National Assembly had last year accused the state governors of frustrating efforts of the national assembly to amend sections of the constitution, attributing it to the amendment which sought to give local government autonomy.
The state assemblies had threatened that they will not consider the bills until the issue of state police is revisited.
Three months after, the senate received resolutions from 27 States.
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Senate in its resolution directed the Clerk to the National Assembly to transmit the 35 Bills that have so far met the requirements of the provision of Section 9(2) of the Constitution, to President, Muhammadu Buhari for assent.
It also urged eight State Houses of Assembly – Gombe, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, and Zamfara; that are yet to forward their resolutions on the Bills to do so in fulfilment of their Constitutionally imposed legislative obligation to the Constitution amendment process.
Some of the nine bills that failed passage at the State Houses of Assembly are the ones that sought for Abrogation of the State Joint Local Government Account and Provision for a Special Account into which shall be paid all allocations due to Local Government Councils from the Federation Account and the Government of the State; and for Related Matters “
The one on the establishment of Local Government as a Tier of Government by guaranteeing their Democratic Existence, Tenure; and Related Matters.
(Editor: Ifeanyi Mark)
