Constitution amendments: Reps vote for Local Govt autonomy, scrap SIECs


… reject immunity for President, govs, adopt 87 clauses

The House of Representatives yesterday voted in support of local government autonomy.

The lawmakers adopted 87 clauses for amendment.

And in a rare feat the House held its plenary until past 11p.m. yesterday.

Two hundred and ninety- three lawmakers voted in support of financial autonomy for the 774 local governments in the country.

The Senate had last week voted against the clause, seeking administrative and financial autonomy for the third tier of government.

The implication is that both the Senate and the House would have to do a conference on the disagreement.

Also the 36 states Houses of Assembly will have to ratify the amendments to the constitution.

The House also voted against the retention of immunity for president, vice president, governors and their deputies. Two hundred and ninety-two lawmakers voted against immunity for the president and state governors while 22 voted for the retention of the clause in the constitution.

There was also a ray of hope for state agitators as 305 lawmakers voted in support of removal of hindrances to creation of new states. Three hundred and two legislators voted for the amendment of the ambiguities and boundary adjournment while 22 voted against.

The lawmakers also voted for the scrapping of the State Independent Electoral Commissions, SIECs.

Contrary to expectations yesterday, the lawmakers resorted to a last-minute adoption of the manual voting in the clause-by-clause amendment of some sections of the 1999 Constitution.

The House had suspended voting on the constitution amendment for the second time in one week in favour of electronic voting system.

But the nocturnal voting, however, breached rules, as the House failed to suspend relevant rules to extend the session which was still on at press time.

The time to end sittings, according to the House Rule book, is 2p.m. when the House Leader is supposed to raise a motion for adjournment.

In the sixth assembly, the sitting time was fixed for 10a.m. and adjournment time set for 1p.m., but Aminu Tambuwal’s House moved it to 11a.m., fixing the adjournment time for 2p.m.

Yesterday’s plenary would be the first time in 10 years that the House would be sitting for that long to vote on a constitution or any matter.

The closest the House came collectively to a prolonged sitting was in 2005 when its Joint Committee on Finance and Appropriations sat in a packed committee room till 10:30p.m. on the 2006 budget.

The voting was not without hitches yesterday as the officials of the Nigerian Communications Satellite, NigComSat, led by its Director-General, Engr. Ahmed Rufai, contracted to facilitate the exercise could not fix the voting devices installed in the chamber.

After several failed attempts, the House resorted to manual voting by the 327 members present, a process that was cumbersome, compelling the chamber to sit for several hours on Wednesday.

Visitors, including members of the civil society groups, who filled the gallery in the morning to observe the process, sat and waited patiently throughout the duration of the session presided by the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal.

But they later left in disappointment when as at 5:30p.m. the results of the voting exercise was still being collated by parliamentary officials under the supervision of the Clerk of the House, Mohammed Omolori.

The lawmakers on Tuesday emerged from a closed door session that lasted for almost three hours to adjourn voting for yesterday to allow members obtain and use the ipad devices supplied them for voting electronically.

Tambuwal after the resumed session had appealed to Nigerians “to please bear with the House for the long closed session.”

He explained that the prolonged closed session and the House decision to defer voting on the 1999 Constitution to Wednesday was because “members decided to adopt the electronic system in the voting so as to make it faster and more effective”.

The supplier and installer of the electronic system that is connected to each ipad device is NigComSAT.

The Director General of NigcomSAT, The NigcomSAT boss, Rufai, who had lectured the lawmakers on the use of the device, had said after the closed session that “the system has been tested and would be ready for use onWednesday.”

He added: “360 tablets were shipped from Lagos and the application has been tested and it will be possible for members to vote from their ipads and that all what members need to do is to charge their devices overnight.”

Members who spoke with newsmen had expressed optimism that lawmakers “would vote according to their conscience” and according to the wishes of the people”.

Two hundred and ninety- three lawmakers voted in support of financial autonomy for the 774 local governments in the country.

The Senate had last week voted against the clause, seeking administrative and financial autonomy for the third tier of government.

The implication is that both the Senate and the House would have to do a conference on the disagreement.

awodman: For the first time I am pleased with the Tambuwal led house for taking a good stand on an important national issue rather than unnecessary grandstanding and playing to the gallery..

local govt autonomy is the right way to go if development should be felt @ every part of this country.Kudos to them for removing electricity and railway management from the exclusive list to concurrent list which means that states are free to build and manage railways and also generate and distribute electricity.

However I think removal of immunity clause from president,Governors and their deputies would subject this officials to unnecessary distractions thereby bringing up more excuses for non-performance.

Kudos to ACN reps for ignoring party directive to vote against LG autonomy and other vital clauses.

Finally let's hope that the gains made won't be lost when the amendment gets to the state house of assemblies especially that of LG autonomy.

Once more kudos to the members of the House of Representatives.

kokoA: I agree with you on the local government issue, but completely disagree on the immunity issue. We are all equal before the law. President, governors and their deputies will be forced to behave properly if this "immunity" thing is taken out of our constitution knowing fully well that they can be summoned by the court of law to answer for their misdeeds. You mentioned 'distraction'.. My brother, let's be sincere, now that they are not being 'distracted', can you vouch that they are going about their duties to the best of their abilities?

awodman:
When I say distractions I mean people bringing up all sort of frivolous applications..and instead of concentrating on the work @ hand the official involved will spend time fighting court cases and remember public funds will be spent pursuing this cases...don't forget since they still fire and hire they can also have a great influence on the jury

eGuerrilla:

Frivolous lawsuits are a price worth paying for the removal of a clause that has long provided cover for gratuitous thievery. Mind you, I am confident that mechanisms will be put in place to address your concerns at any rate.

It is time the highest offices in the land only attracted serious minded folks as opposed to common criminals with little aptitude for public administration.

HNosegbe:

What mechanisms will/can be put in place to prevent a state governor from dipping his hands into state coffers to hire top-dollar lawyers to defend him in frivolous court cases?

Malaysia
In Malaysia, an amendment to the constitution in 1993 made it possible to bring proceedings against the king or any ruler of a component state in the Special Court. Prior to 1993, rulers, in their personal capacity, were immune from any proceedings brought against them.

Norway
Article 5 of the Constitution of Norway states: The King's person is sacred; he cannot be censured or accused. The responsibility rests with his Council.[9] Accordingly the monarch cannot be prosecuted or sued in his or her personal capacity, but this immunity does not extend to the state as such.

Ireland
In Byrne v Ireland, the Irish Supreme Court declared that sovereign immunity had not survived the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922, and that accordingly the state could be sued for and held vicariously liable for the acts and omissions of its servants and agents.

Belgium
Article 88 of the Constitution of Belgium states: The King’s person is inviolable; his ministers are accountable.

Australia
There is no automatic Crown immunity in Australia, although the Crown may be explicitly or implicitly immune from any particular statute. There is a rebuttable presumption that the Crown is not bound by a statute: Bropho v State of Western Australia. The Crown's immunity may also apply to other parties in certain circumstances: see Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Baxter Healthcare.

awodman: For the first time I am pleased with the Tambuwal led house for taking a good stand on an important national issue rather than unnecessary grandstanding and playing to the gallery..

local govt autonomy is the right way to go if development should be felt @ every part of this country.Kudos to them for removing electricity and railway management from the exclusive list to concurrent list which means that states are free to build and manage railways and also generate and distribute electricity.

However I think removal of immunity clause from president,Governors and their deputies would subject this officials to unnecessary distractions thereby bringing up more excuses for non-performance.

Kudos to ACN reps for ignoring party directive to vote against LG autonomy and other vital clauses.

Finally let's hope that the gains made won't be lost when the amendment gets to the state house of assemblies especially that of LG autonomy.

Once more kudos to the members of the House of Representatives.

awodman: For the first time I am pleased with the Tambuwal led house for taking a good stand on an important national issue rather than unnecessary grandstanding and playing to the gallery..

local govt autonomy is the right way to go if development should be felt @ every part of this country.Kudos to them for removing electricity and railway management from the exclusive list to concurrent list which means that states are free to build and manage railways and also generate and distribute electricity.

However I think removal of immunity clause from president,Governors and their deputies would subject this officials to unnecessary distractions thereby bringing up more excuses for non-performance.

Kudos to ACN reps for ignoring party directive to vote against LG autonomy and other vital clauses.

Finally let's hope that the gains made won't be lost when the amendment gets to the state house of assemblies especially that of LG autonomy.

Once more kudos to the members of the House of Representatives.

eGuerrilla:

Frivolous lawsuits are a price worth paying for the removal of a clause that has long provided cover for gratuitous thievery. Mind you, I am confident that mechanisms will be put in place to address your concerns at any rate.

It is time the highest offices in the land only attracted serious minded folks as opposed to common criminals with little aptitude for public administration.

DerideGull: I say Kudos to the House of Representatives for the support of administrative and financial autonomy for Local Governments as well as the abrogation of State Independent Electoral Commissions, SIECs.
These moves are signs of grass root democracy. There is no need for SIECS since Nigeria has INEC which is capable of conducting any form of state election.

In addition, I call for scraping of Senate and position of governors in Nigeria. The Senate has become a useless body and governors have become despotic. Anybody, such as Senate, which did not deem it necessary to extend democracy to the local governemnt level has no place in Nigeria.

eGuerrilla:

Trick question, I see

I am not suggesting that it is possible to deny a corrupt governor access to a state's treasury, far from it.
My point was more about addressing lingering fears which are informed by the view that, by removing the blanket cover provided for such acts, we would somehow be opening the floodgates for all manner of litigation.

There are many countries that operate without the provisions afforded by an immunity clause, you know - where you don't hear reports of frivolous lawsuits being filed against public administrators.
When I have a bit more time on my hands, I intend to put a more detailed list for illustrative purposes.


Source: Wikipedia

Crownvilla: @ All Legal Eagles and those well versed in the workings of the Nigerian parliament and constitution.

What happens next? Is this now law or are there further procedures/hurdles to clear?