Senate has whittled
down down the powers of the Presidency in an ongoing Constitution review by
moving certain items from the Exclusive Legislative List to the
Concurrent
List.
The amendment was
known when the Red Chamber received an interim status report of its
Constitution Review Committee (CRC(, chaired by Deputy Senate President, Ike
Ekweremadu.
Ekweremadu said the
Second Schedule, Part I and II of the Constitution has been altered to
decongest the Exclusive Legislative List in order to give more powers to the
states of the Federation.
He said the move
will enhance the principle of federalism and good governance. Ekweremadu said pensions,
prisons, railways, stamp duties and wages have been moved from the Exclusive
Legislative List to the Concurrent List.
He added that
arbitration, environment, healthcare, housing, road safety, land and
agriculture, youths and public complaints were also added to the Concurrent
List of the Constitution.
According to
Ekweremadu, the full draft of the constitution amendment bill will be ready,
after harmonisation with the House of Representatives, on grey areas.
The Seventh National
Assembly embarked on a similar exercise, but former President Goodluck
Jonathan, declined to sign it into law. Former minister of Justice and
Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, approached the Supreme
Court to stop the National Assembly from vetoing the president.
But, in the CRC
report, it recommended a uniform three-year tenure for elected local government
council officials and also recommended that local governments that are not
democratically elected should not be entitled to any revenue from the Federation
Account.
In the report, the
committee made a provision for national savings of 50 per cent of oil revenues
above the bench mark for a particular year and 10 per cent of any non-oil
revenue paid into the Federation Account.
It amended sections
82 and 122 of the Constitution to reduce the period within which the president
or a governor may authorise withdrawal of monies from the Consolidated Revenue
Fund in the absence of an Appropriation Act from six months to three months.
“Essentially, this
will compel early presentation of a budget proposal by the Executive arm of
government, thereby giving the legislature sufficient time to scrutinise such
proposal,” Ekweremadu noted.
Also, section 121 of
the Constitution has been amended to guarantee first line charge funding for
Houses of Assembly from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. If passed into law, it
will free state legislatures from the grip of state governors.
Amendment of sections
147 and 192 of the Constitution would also 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 House of
Assembly.
It also provided a
period of 60 days within which such nominations shall be forwarded to the
Senate or House of Assembly following inauguration, with 35 per cent
representation for women in the appointment of ministers and commissioners.
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.
It has also made 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 and removed lawmaking
power of the executive arm of government under section 315.
The extant provision
is contrary to section 4 of the Constitution, which confers lawmaking powers
exclusively on the legislature.
Meanwhile, a bill
for an Act to provide for the inauguration of the president and vice president,
also known as the Presidential Inauguration Bill, 2016, was read a second time,
yesterday.
The bill, sponsored
by Ekweremadu, seeks to align Nigeria’s presidential inauguration with
international best practices, as obtained in the United States of America, and
many other democracies.
Leading debate on
the general principles of the bill, Ekweremadu explained that the bill seeks to
move the inauguration of the president and his deputy from the Eagle Square to
within the precincts of the National Assembly, but, without precluding the
Chief Justice of Nigeria from administering the oath of office on the president
and his deputy.
The committee also
tinkered with sections 233, 237, 247, 251 and Part I of the Third Schedule of
the Constitution, 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.
It also proposed
that 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.
Also, Senate
resolved to establish a criminal division of the Federal High Court to try
electoral offences, terrorism cases, economic and financial crimes cases and
provide for appeals from the decisions of the National Industrial Court to the
Court of Appeal.
According to the
report, 12 Justices of the Court of Appeal are to be learned in Labour and
Employment Matters for the purpose of hearing appeals from the National
Industrial Court and put the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) under the control
of the judiciary instead of the executive.
Speaking further on
the recommendations, Ekweremadu said: “In line with the Committee’s decision to
disaggregate constitutional amendment proposals into different bills, we
consolidated and clustered amendment proposals into appropriate thematic and
sectional heads. While some amendment proposals were incorporated into existing
Senate Bills, others were grouped thematically.
“Additionally, some
amendments that could not fit into any of the above classifications were
produced as stand-alone bills. Those stand-alone bills 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.”
Ekweremadu
explained: “Mr. President, Distinguished Colleagues, you would recall that
Nigeria transformed from operating a Parliamentary- Westminster system- to the
extant Presidential system modeled after the U.S. Presidential system of
government in 1979 and continued to the 4th Republic from 1999 to date.
“You would also
recall that from the commencement of the 4th Republic to 2015 the inauguration
or swearing-in of the newly elected President and the Vice President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria had been taking place at the Eagle Square. This practice of inauguration of the
President and the Vice President at the Eagle Square is at variance with what
transpires in the United States and other democracies where their Presidents
and Vice Presidents are inaugurated within the precincts of their Parliaments.
“Thus, as you can
see, this is a misnomer. The popular or
international best practice is for the leadership of the Executive to be
inaugurated within the premises of the Legislature, who are perceived as the
true representatives of the people.
Suffice it to say that this practice does not preclude or extricate the
Chief Justice of Nigeria from administering the Oath of Office on the two.”
He noted that the
bill further provides for the inauguration ceremony of the President-elect and
the Vice President-elect to take place at the Arcade of the National Assembly,
where the people are represented.
He said it also
provides for the setting up of a Presidential Inauguration Committee, which
shall consist of a serving Member of the National Assembly as Chairman, six
members drawn from the Legislature, two from the Executive, two from the
Judiciary, and two from the Civil Society.
Section 7 provides
for order of Procession with the President leading, while former Presidents,
former Heads of State, former Heads of Federal Government, former Vice
Presidents, Former Senate Presidents, former Speakers of the House of
Representatives, and former Chief Justices of the Federation, follow,
accordingly.
Ekweremadu also
explained that the bill further provides for the President-elect and Vice
President-elect to be the last to come, accompanied by their immediate families
and also to be supported by their spouses, serving President of the Senate, and
the Speaker of the House of Representatives at the point of swearing-in.
The Senate in
plenary presided over by the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, approved
for the bill to be read a second time and subsequently referred it to the
Senate Committee on Special Duties for further processing. The Committee is to
report back to the Senate in four-week time.
Meanwhile, the
Presidential Inauguration Bill was earlier sponsored by Senator Jubril Aminu in
2009 and passed by the 6th National Assembly, but did not receive presidential
assent.
sunnewsonline
Follow Solenzo Blog on
0 Comments