A fresh amendment of the 1999 Constitution by the National Assembly is in jeopardy as indications emerged at the weekend that there is no allocation for the exercise in the 2011 budget.

Hopes of zones like the South-East getting a redress in the creation of more states hang in the balance unless the leaderships of the Senate and the House of Representatives could “source for funds” outside the budget.

A top National Assembly source confirmed to Daily Sun yesterday that any hope of redressing some of the imbalances in the Constitution through a review “is shaky” for now. We heard that the House of Representatives has already set up its Constitution Review Committee (CRC).

“That’s a presumptuous move because there is no single kobo allocated for the exercise in the 2011 budget. By now, both houses should have announced their committees and the agenda already released. For now, nothing can kick off because the last appropriation committees did not allocate any single kobo for the amendment of the Constitution.”

A last ditch effort to rescue the amendment process, it was learnt, “would be to either approach the Presidency for a lifeline or the management of the National Assembly until such a time when we are able to get funds for the exercise. Should those two efforts fail, Nigerians may be disappointed.”
As the National Assembly settles down to embark on a fresh amendment of the Constitution, creation of new states may top the agenda being considered by federal lawmakers. The South-East, it was gathered, is in pole position to clinch one more state.

Also on the proposed agenda of the National Assembly CRC would be the amendment of the resource control formula. The vexatious issue of amending the revenue formula would also be on the front burner.
In a telephone chat on Sunday, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu confirmed some priorities in the agenda, adding that “although the report of the last exercise was submitted to the Sixth National Assembly, we don’t know when the exercise would take off.”
Senator Ekweremadu declined further comments when asked if the zero allocation in the 2011 budget was delaying the exercise.

Daily Sun gathered at the weekend that the Senate was yet to name members of its CRC, more than a month after the House named a 37-member committee for the exercise.
National Assembly sources said that the Senate may also name 37 members for its CRC, with one member each from the 36 states and the FCT.

The most contentious issue in the proposed Constitution amendment, however, remains the proposal of a single six-year tenure for elective office holders, starting with the office of the President and the state governors. It is unclear whether, President Goodluck Jonathan or serving state governors elected in the April, 2011 polls would be the first beneficiaries.

What is, however, certain is that the proposal would come in the form of an executive bill to the CRC for consideration. Equally uncertain is the time it would be submitted to the National Assembly.
The rationale behind the proposed six-year single term was borne out of “the scramble by sitting elected public officers for a second term.

“Public funds are wasted all in the name of clinching a second term. If the six-year single term scales through, then, there would be no need for politicians to accommodate all manner of characters in office, in the hope of securing a second term,” a source said at the weekend.

With the creation of states top on the agenda, the South-East may be lucky this time around as the federal lawmakers are in agreement that “it is the only zone which has a genuine case for state creation. All other zones have six states each, with the exception of the North-West which has seven.”
At the last count, more than 50 requests for creation of more states have been tabled before the National Assembly.

Regardless, lawmakers would also tinker with the present 13 per cent resource control formula presently being enjoyed by oil-rich states.

An amendment of the Constitution to increase the formula for the beneficiary states did not sail through in the last National Assembly as northerners in the then CRC opposed the hike.
This time around, the resource control formula may be raised from 13 per cent to 25 per cent.
In the case of the revenue allocation formula, federal lawmakers are agreed that there is the need to alter the present formula which had been in existence since 2002. The Constitution stipulates that the revenue allocation formula for the federation should be reviewed every five years. The Presidency enjoys a large chunk of the present formula, taking more than 52 per cent of every accruals to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) while the states and local governments take the remaining.

If the proposed amendment to the revenue allocation formula sails through, states and local governments would take more from the CRF than the executive.