In Proposed Constitution Amendment, Ministerial Nominees to be Presented 30 Days from Presidential Inauguration


Hope rises for LG autonomy, as National Assembly begins debate Tuesday Lowers age for elective offices

Damilola Oyedele in Abuja


Hopes were raised at the weekend that the era of delay in the appointment of ministers by the president might soon be a thing of the past, as the joint committee of the National Assembly on review of the 1999 Constitution proposed a time limit for the submission of the list of ministerial nominees. THISDAY learnt that local government autonomy was also pencilled in for consideration in the report of the committee, headed by Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu. This raises hopes that the local councils may finally be freed from executive stranglehold.

Ekweremadu submitted the report of the joint committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution to the Senate and House of Representatives on Thursday, with assurances that debate on it would commence on Tuesday. The report contains items that had been adopted by the joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives committees on constitution review.

THISDAY gathered that the committee recommended a 30-day deadline from the day of the president’s inauguration for his submission of the list of ministerial nominees to the Senate for approval. It also proposed the reduction of age requirements for election into executive and legislative positions.

The proposed alterations were harmonised at the joint retreat of the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on the Review of the 1999 Constitution penultimate weekend in Lagos.

Local government autonomy has been a perennial topic in constitution amendment processes since the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1999, though it has never succeeded. The closest the issue came to being amended was during the Seventh National Assembly, when Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution was among 23 items amended by the National Assembly and passed to the 36 states Houses of Assembly in October 2014 for concurrence.

Concurrence by two-thirds of the assemblies, that is 24 Houses of Assembly, is required to pass amendment to any constitutional item into law. But 23 states’ Houses of Assembly voted against the amendment that would have given the 774 local governments listed in the 1999 Constitution financial and administrative autonomy. The surprising decision of the state legislatures was believed to have emanated from the governors, who are accused of diverting council funds from the Federation Account paid into the joint state/local government account to the pursuit of their inordinate ambitions.

But last week, hopes of independent local government areas were rekindled, when amendment to sections 7 and 162 featured among items listed for debate in the current constitution amendment process. If the amendment succeeds, the joint state/local government account would be abolished to enable the third tier of government maintain and run independent accounts into which allocations from the Federation Account and the state governments would be directly paid.

Lawmakers of the two chambers of the National Assembly were expected to use the weekend to study the report of the ad hoc committee on constitution review before the commencement of debate on the items list for review on Tuesday.


The amendment in favour of local government autonomy also seeks to implement uniform three-year tenure for elected local government officials across the country. This would eliminate the practice whereby state governors sack elected officials at the third tier of government at will and install their protégés as heads of caretaker committees for months on end.

The amendment to Section 7 provides that only democratically constituted local governments can receive and administer the allocations received from the Federation Account and state governments.

The National Assembly proposed the lowering of age qualifications for elective positions. Under section 130 of the 1999 Constitution, a person must be at least 40 years of age to be elected President or Vice President of Nigeria. Section 68 sets 35 and 30, respectively, as minimum age for senators and House of Representatives members, and section 177 provides that a person must be 35 years of age to be elected governor of a state, while section 106 sets 30 years as minimum age for membership of a House of Assembly.

The amendment to section 121 of the constitution seeks to enhance legislative processes in states by granting financial autonomy to the Houses of Assembly and placing the state legislatures on First Line charge. This would reduce executive control over funds meant for the House of Assembly from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of a state, as monies would be paid directly to the institution.

The joint committee on constitution review also recommended alterations to sections 58, 59, and 100 of the constitution, to provide a 30-day timeframe for the president or governor to assent to a bill passed by the National Assembly or state Assembly, or indicate his refusal of assent.

The amendment provides that if executive assent is not granted in 30 days, the bill automatically becomes laws without the legislature having to activate the process of veto.

Amendments to sections 82 and 122 of the constitution seek to reduce the time within which the president or state governor may authorise expenditure from the Consolidated Revenue Fund from six months to three months. The move is to ensure that the executive sends the appropriation bill in time.

The joint committee also recommended a timeframe within which the president or governor must appoint the cabinet, in addition to a provision that at least 35 per cent of the positions must go to women. It suggested that the proposed portfolio of each nominee for minister or commissioner must accompany the letter of nomination to the legislature.

Alterations proposed to sections 150, 174, 195, 211, 318 and the Third Schedule to the constitution seek to separate the office of the Minister of Justice or Commissioner for Justice, in the case of a state, from that of the Attorney-general of the Federation or of a state. This is to insulate the attorney-general from partisan politics by granting him financial autonomy and security of tenure.

https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2017/07/23/in-proposed-constitution-amendment-ministerial-nominees-to-be-presented-30-days-from-presidential-inauguration/

lalasticlala

Okay.

That would be a good thing to save ourselves the buhari syndrome of choosing ministers almost 7months after his inauguration

Better, it would save us from unnecessary honeymoon that lasted for more than six months... good job..

Na so. Dream land, the old Pappies won't let go of power

Good. This will definitely deepen democracy if it is passed. Matter of fact, these are some of the key issues proponents of restructuring are advocating.

They should also include that the president cannot appoint inec chairman and governors cannot select state inec chiefs.

If passed, this also means that the president and governors cannot choose ministers and commissioners anytime they like, like buhari and aregbesola.

That autonomy for local councils and state assemblies may be rejected again, just like the states rejected it in 2010 or thereabout.

buhari keeps making history


30 days is even too long. it should have been the same day of inauguration because they have enough time to prepare from the day of the election to the day of inauguration; that's if there will still be Nigeria then

Ahahahahahahhahaha


Chaii because of buhari


After 7months he came up with failures a minister with producing pencil by 2018 vision chaiiii


Professional in lies

Good.... They want to abort future occurrence of the mistake dullarpoh made. Where he end up making saints (dullard crooks) ministers.

and then wait forever for d dullard to sign d nonsense list full of dullardeens. This country is a very useless country but not totally useless,atleast could be used as a bad example to other african nations.

See what the incompetence of one individual has turned a nation to...common sense now has to be a law before it's properly utilized in Nigeria!

I shudder to think I invested my sweat and blood in the election of this joker.

nice one



so future dollards wont ground the economy before finding misfits


called ministers

Good.
Bravo Senate.

That'll be good, instead of sleeping for 6months b4 presenting fools

Seriously, this is good...

i asked people, why didn't APC start drawing out economic plans for Nigeria a day after they won the presidential election. They had a month to do that, a month to prepare, a month to select the ministers. Great example is donald trump. He got his full team of ministers months before his inauguration. Na wa for Nigeria oo...


mean while,
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it is Only a dullard and an unprepared presidential hopeful that will take months to appoint ministers,a serious minded presidential candidate should have his men to work with, right from the swearing in day.

Buhari's costly mistakes are a lesson to Nigeria

I laff

dre11:
That would be a good thing to save ourselves the buhari syndrome of choosing ministers almost 7months after his inauguration

you right, finally they are tackling one of the major root of our misery today.

dre11:
That would be a good thing to save ourselves the buhari syndrome of choosing ministers almost 7months after his inauguration

But his zombie supporters said it was okay, that he was taking his time...saints

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Good step to save us from dumb, delayed deciders like Buhari.

Buhari keeps making history for the wrong reasons. Imagine, appointing ministers seven months after inauguration.

jst Negodu Buhari Saints afta 6months




It shud be either ONE DAY OR FOUR YEARS jare.....


cos they wud stl FAIL and are as GOOD AS NOTHING

Hmm

If this lofty amendments are seen to a logical conclusion, then I will duff my hat for this present National Assembly

This will to a long extent cure a lot of lapses an lacuna in our development process

I feel so elated and proud reading about these proposed amendments....
Kudos!

Local government autonomy is the first step towards Restructuring.