History, as Amended Constitution Takes Effect
From Kunle Akogun in Abuja, 07.16.2010

For the first time since Nigeria’s independence in 1960, the legislative arm of government has given the country a new constitution in the form of the first amendment to the 1999 Constitution.

By global tradition, the amended sections have already become law the day a minimum of 24 state houses of assembly passed a resolution in support.

As at last night, 30 state assemblies had already sent their resolutions to the National Assembly—with 19 of the proposed 50 changes having secured the 24-state benchmark.

The states that were yet to send their resolutions are Adamawa, Cross River, Enugu, Jigawa, Ondo and Taraba.
But this morning, the final resolutions of the entire 36 states are expected to be presented to the National Asse-mbly by the speakers.

The constitution amendment procedure requires that after the proposed changes are harmonised by the National Assembly, at least 24 states (two-third of 36 states of the federation) must pass a resolution adopting the changes before they can become law.

The presentation, earlier scheduled for last Wednesday, was stalled at the last minute as many of the state assemblies were said to still be busy with their consideration of the amendment bill transmitted to them by the National Assembly on June 15.

Reading a letter from the Chairman Senate Ad-hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, inviting senators to today’s presentation ceremony, Senate President David Mark said: “We have been assured by the speakers that this time the presentation will really take place”.

The ceremony is expected to kick off at 10.00 am at Room 231 of the House of Representatives Conference New Building.
An aspect of the harmonised amendment which did not sail through is Section 121, which grants financial autonomy to state assemblies but which at least 16 states voted against, apparently on the prompting of their governors who want to continue to have them under control.

However, 19 amendments had gone through last night and it is expected that by the time the remaining six states send in their resolutions, more may still go through.

The major amendments that scaled through are:

•Presidential/governorship elections to hold 120-150 days (four-five months) to the expiration of the tenure of the incumbents;
•No tenure extension for a sitting president/governor who wins a rerun election. They can serve only a maximum of four years at a go;

•Panel indictment can no longer be used to disqualify candidates from running for elections. It will now require a court judgment;
•There will be financial autonomy for judiciary, INEC and National Assembly;

•If the president does not transmit a vacation letter within 21 days, the National Assembly will pass a resolution making the vice-president the acting president;

•If the governor does not transmit a vacation letter within 21 days, the state house of assembly will pass a resolution making the deputy governor the acting governor;

•Appeal Court to be the first court of jurisdiction on interpreting the tenure, validity of election and determining if a vacancy exists in the following positions: president, vice-president, governor and deputy governor.

Although the amendments have already become law and form a new constitution, it is expected that the changes will soon be gazetted and published as a document to be made available to all Nigerians.

The amendment process began in September 2008 with the inauguration of the Ekweremadu ad-hoc committee, but it was partially halted in January 2009 when the House of Represent-atives walked out of the retreat in Minna, Niger State, claiming equality with the Senate in the joint constitution review committee.

Today’s presentation is expected to bring the chapter to a close, after the initial inability of the 36 speakers to pass their resolutions to the National Assembly.

Apologising for the failure to present their resolutions last week as scheduled, Chairman of the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures, Hon. Istifanus Gbana, promised that the resolutions would be transmitted within a week.



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