Assistant Editor, Onyedi Ojiabor, reports on the submissions the Senate Committee on Review of the 1999 Constitution made during the week
Activities marking further alteration of the 1999 Constitution heightened during the week following the submission of the highlights of areas covered in the ongoing constitution amendment efforts.
Senators who claimed not to know that the consideration of the areas of the constitution mapped out for amendment has reached advanced stage were jolted into action.
Deputy Senate President and Chairman, Senate Committee on Review of the 1999 Constitution, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who made the submission, gave explanation on the status of the constitution amendment.
The submissions, explanations, and the areas covered in the proposed amendment were revealing.
The proposed creation of a mayoral seat for the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) Abuja, although long overdue, may turn out one of the thorny and prickly areas of the amendment.
Financial autonomy for State Houses of Assembly, which was earlier turned down by the same State Assemblies the National Assembly attempted to rescue from the stranglehold of state governors, may sail through this time around.
The proposed abolition of State-Local Government Joint Account is likely to be stoutly opposed by governors who see allocation to local government as free money to play with.
The areas covered included local government administration, distributable pool account, authorization of expenditure, political parties and electoral matters, and financial autonomy of state legislatures.
Status of the Federal Capital Territory, nomination of ministers and commissioners, the legislature, and judiciary, devolution of powers and local government change of name were other areas also covered in the proposed amendment.
The Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution was constituted on 22nd December, 2015 and inaugurated on 13th January, 2016 with a clear mandate to reprocess the aspects of the fourth alteration bill that had gained national consensus and enjoyed huge good-will from the general public, states, Non-Governmental Organisations and international development organisations.
Ekweremadu told the Senate that between the period of the committee’s inauguration and 8th December 2016, over 15 constitution amendment bills were referred to the committee.
Some of the bills, he said, dealt with issues already covered by the fourth alteration bill, while a few others dealt on governance issues that have agitated the minds of Nigerians, were considered by the committee.
To streamline the work of the committee, Ekweremadu said they disaggregated amendments proposals and clustered them into bills according to their thematic classifications.
On local government administration, Ekweremadu said Section 7 of the Constitution was amended here.
The amendments in the section, he said, were essentially meant to strengthen local government administration in Nigeria by elaborately providing -a uniform 3-year tenure for elected local government council officials; that local governments without a democratically elected council shall not be entitled to any revenue from the Federation Account.
Ekweremadu said the amendments, amongst others, were believed will ensure effective service delivery and insulate local governments from undue and counter-productive interferences from state governments.
On distributable pool account, Ekweremadu said Section 162 of the Constitution was amended to Provide for national savings of 50 percent of oil revenues above the bench mark for a particular year and 10 percent of any non- oil revenue paid into the Federation Account. Or such other percentage not less than that provided in this section as the National Assembly may determine in the Appropriation Act of a particular year. Provide that any such savings as stipulated in this section will be distributed in accordance with the prevailing revenue sharing formula and in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution provided that the savings shall not be distributed in any period less than ten years from the date of a particular savings. Abrogate the State Joint Local Government Account and paying monies due to local government councils directly into their respective accounts. Define the fund of the state government; that is, internally generated revenue from which a portion shall be paid into the Local Government Allocation Account.
On authorisation of expenditure, he said that Sections 82 and 122 of the Constitution were amended to reduce the period within which the president or a governor may authorize the withdrawal of monies from the Consolidated Revenue Fund in the absence of an appropriation act from six months to three months. Ekweremadu explained that essentially, the amendment will compel early presentation of budget proposal by the executive arm of government thereby giving the legislature sufficient time to scrutinize such proposal.
On political parties and electoral matters, Ekweremadu said Sections 134 (4) & (5), 179 (4) & (5) and 225 were amended to – extend the time for conducting presidential and governorship re-run elections where no clear winner emerged from seven to 21 days to give INEC sufficient time to plan, considering the logistics that is required such as printing and transporting new ballot papers for the elections. Empower the INEC to de-register political parties for non-fulfillment of certain conditions such as breach of registration requirements and failure to secure/win presidential, governorship, local government chairmanship or a seat in the national or State Assembly elections.
On financial autonomy of state legislatures, he said Section 121 of the Constitution was amended to guarantee a first line charge funding of State Houses of Assembly from the consolidated revenue fund of the state. The same alteration was made during the Third Alteration but was controversially rejected by State Assemblies.
On status of the Federal Capital Territory, Ekweremadu said under this head, Sections 256, 299, 300, 301 and 302 of the Constitution were amended to create the office of an elected Mayor for the FCT with powers to administer the FCT as if it were a state of the federation by exercising all functions presently administered by the Minister of the FCT. FCT indigenes have been agitating for the creation of a mayoral seat to be created for the FCT. The Federal Government opposed the creation of mayoral seat for the FCT.
On nomination of ministers and commissioners, Ekweremadu said Sections 147 and 192 of the Constitution were amended to Ensure that the president and governors designate and assign portfolios to persons nominated as ministers or commissioners respectively prior to confirmation by the Senate or State House of Assembly; Provide a period of 60 days within which such nominations shall be forwarded to the Senate or State House of Assembly following inauguration; and provide 35% representation for women in the appointment of ministers and commissioners.
On the legislature, he said Sections 51, 67, 93 and 315 were amended to Create the National Assembly Service Commission and the State House of Assembly Service Commission and empower the National Assembly and State House of Assembly respectively to provide for the powers and structure of the commissions through subsequent legislations, and make it mandatory for the president to attend a joint meeting of the National Assembly once a year to deliver a State of the Nation Address. Remove the law-making power of the executive arm of government under S. 315. The extant provision is starkly contrary to Section 4 of the Constitution which confers law-making powers exclusively on the legislature.
On the Judiciary, Ekweremadu said Sections 233, 237, 247, 251 and Part I of the Third Schedule of the Constitution were amended to- Provide for all appeals from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court to be by leave of the Supreme Court except in the case of Interpretation of the Constitution, death sentences and fundamental human rights. Allow two justices of the Court of Appeal sitting in chambers to dispose any application for leave to appeal after considering the records of proceedings if the justices believe the interest of justice does not require an oral hearing of the application. Establish a criminal division of the Federal High Court to try electoral offences, terrorism cases, economic and financial crimes cases. Provide for appeals from the decisions of the National Industrial Court to the Court of Appeal. Provide for 12 Justices of the Court of Appeal to be learned in Labour and Employment Matters for the purpose of hearing appeals from the National Industrial Court. Improve the quality of representation in the National Judicial Council. Put the Code of Conduct Tribunal under the control of the judiciary instead of the executive.
On devolution of powers, Ekweremadu said Second Schedule, Part I and II of the Constitution were altered to decongest the Exclusive Legislative List to give more powers to states.
He explained that alteration will enhance the principle of federalism and good governance.
The amendment specifically substituted “Post and Telegraphs” with “Post and Telecommunications”, and moved Pensions, Prisons, Railways, Stamp Duties and Wages from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent List and added Arbitration, Environment, Healthcare, Housing, Road Safety, Pensions, Land and Agriculture, Youths, Public Complaints to the Concurrent List.
On local government change of name, he said the First Schedule was further amended to change the names of local governments as follows: “Afikpo North” and “Afikpo South” to “Afikpo” and “Edda” respectively; “Egbado North” and “Egbado South” to “ Yewa North” and “Yewa South”; “Obia/Akpor” to “Obio/Akpor.”
Ekweremadu explained that in line with the committee’s decision to disaggregate constitutional amendment proposals into different bills, they consolidated and clustered amendment proposals into appropriate thematic and sectional heads.
He further explained that while some amendment proposals were incorporated into existing Senate Bills, others were grouped thematically.
He posited that additionally, some amendments that could not fit into any of the above classifications were produced as stand-alone bills.
Those stand-alone bills, he said, contain amendment proposals which we deem contentious, hence the need to isolate them from other proposals.
“These clusters are given different short titles such as Fourth Alteration Bill No.1, 2, 3, etcetera. The reason for this is to ensure that the rejection of a group of sections dealing with an issue does not affect other clusters dealing with different unconnected issues.
“This is to forestall the unsavory experience of the Fourth Alteration Bill as passed in the 7th Assembly, which after satisfying the provisions of section 9 of the 1999 Constitution as amended was not assented to by the then President,” he said.
Ekweremadu sought the indulgence of this Senate for more time to harmonize with the House of Representatives and present a unified report for ease of consideration.
No doubt, the submission of the category of the amendments will go a long way to ginger more Nigerians to take more active part in the amendment process.
Issues covered in the amendment are matters of interest that are bound to attract due attention to make the alteration of sections of the Constitution worth the while.
After the Senate and House of Representatives conference session to harmonise areas of disagreement, the battle ground will shift to State Houses of Assembly.
For any proposed amendment to succeed, at least 24 states of the federation must endorse it.
