With barely two weeks for the state legislatures to submit their reports to the National Assembly on the 44 Bills transmitted to them, 28 states are yet to take action on the documents.
Investigation showed that only eight out of the 36 states have acted on the Bills transmitted as part of the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution. The other states have neither approved nor rejected the bills.
It was further learnt that in some of the states, voting on the Constitution Bills have been relegated to the back stage, following the struggling by elected political office holders to get return tickets to contest for their present positions or aspire to new offices.
The Nation learnt that the current efforts to review the Constitution by the National Assembly may suffer setback if Houses of Assembly do not vote on the 44 bills in earnest.
On March 29, the Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA), Ojo Olatunde Amos, transmitted 44 Constitution Review Bills to Clerks of State Houses of Assembly in the 36 States for further consideration and passage as required by law.
The Clerk to the Delta State House of Assembly, who is also the Chairperson, Forum of Clerks of State Houses of Assembly, Mrs. Lyna Aliya Ocholor, had received the Bills on behalf of 34 of her colleagues who were present at the ceremony at the National Assembly in Abuja.
The Senate empaneled a 56-man ad hoc Committee chaired by Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege to kick-started the process. A similar committee headed by Deputy Speaker Ahmed Idris Wase was set up in the House of Representatives.
On March 1, the two chambers voted on recommendations of their respective committees and passed 44 out of the 68 bills listed for consideration.
Twenty-four of the bills failed were rejected by both chambers.
The 1999 Constitution (as amended) provides in Section 9(2) that: “An Act of the National Assembly for the alteration of this Constitution, not being an Act to which Section 8 of this Constitution applies, shall not be passed in either House of the National Assembly unless the proposal is supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds majority of all the members of that House and approved by resolution of the Houses of Assembly of not less than two-thirds of all the states.”
Investigation by The Nation, however, revealed that only about eight out of the 36 states have voted to either approve or reject the 44 bills.
According to our source, the six states that have voted on the bills are: Edo, Kogi, Lagos, Katsina, Imo, Abia, Ogun and Ondo.
Chairman, Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures, Abubakar Suleiman, reportedly said the state legislatures are expected to submit their reports to the National Assembly in the first week of next month.
Such timeline may not be realisable as lawmakers across the country are expected to resume their annual six weeks’ vacation this week.
The delay by states, according to our source, may not be unconnected with the increased tempo of electioneering activities which has crippled Legislative businesses in some State Houses of Assembly.
Another source said: “Some Presiding Officers of State Houses of Assembly are still waiting to harmonise their positions on the bills with their state governors.
“The governors who are overly busy in view of the 2023 general elections as you know have over-bearing influence on the administration of State Houses of Assembly in the country.
“You know this is also an election season and some lawmakers could not secure their reelection tickets. As far as some states are concerned, voting on the bills would have to wait till after the 2023 general elections in March next year.
“The fear is that, the time may be too short for the bills to be reviewed by the Presidency before being assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari when transmitted.
“Give or take, the ongoing constitution review has a 50-50 per cent chance of sailing through or being abandoned.
“It all depends on the political will of the executive working with the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly.”