The National
Assembly (NASS), has introduced major alterations to the country’s constitution
to further check the powers of the executive arm of government at federal
and
state levels, even as it has vowed to pass the recommendations of the amendment
panel this week.
The report
of the Senate Committee on Constitution Amendment was harmonised with that of
the House of Representatives at a final meeting in Lagos last week.
Findings
from the joint committee presided over by Deputy Senate President, Ike
Ekweremadu, and the House of Representatives’ Deputy Speaker, Yusuf Lasun,
showed that the president and state governors would no longer be allowed to
operate without ministers or commissioners beyond 30 days after their
inauguration.
Section 147,
in which the constitution provides for the appointment of ministers was altered
to provide that once the president takes Oath of Office, he has only 30 days
within which to appoint his ministers.
Other key
issues in the report of the joint committee, which was laid before the Senate,
last Thursday, were the amendment of sections 82 and 122 of the 1999
Constitution to reduce the period within which the president or the state
governor may authorise expenditure from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, from six
months to three months.
Based on the
current provisions, the president or governor could make expenditures based on
the provisions of the Appropriation Act (or Budget) of the previous year for up
to six months, pending the approval of the budget for the current fiscal year.
The NASS
believed that this was why presidents and governors are not always in a hurry
to send in appropriation bills for incoming fiscal years.
The joint
committee has equally recommended the amendment of Section 162 to abolish
State/ Local Government Joint Account, so that each local council could
maintain an independent special account into which allocations accruing to it
shall be directly paid from the Federation Account and the state government.
The
constitution amendment as approved by the joint committee also sought to
provide a uniform three-year tenure for all the local councils. The joint
committee is of the view that tenures of local governments have been abused
with some states reducing it to as low as one year.
It was also
learnt that there is a provision to ensure that monies allocated to local
councils are used for the purposes for which they were meant, including, prompt
and regular payment of primary school teachers’ salaries.
Section 7 of
the constitution has been further altered to provide that only democratically
constituted local councils can receive allocation from the Federation Account
and state governments, and can be recognised by any authority or exercise any
function exercisable by local councils in the Constitution.
According to
the committee’s recommendations, sections 58, 59, and 100 of the constitution
would be altered to provide 30 days timeframe for the president or governor to
assent to a bill passed by the National Assembly, state assemblies or indicate
his refusal of assent.
“Where the
president or governor does not do so indicate refusal to assent to a bill, it
automatically becomes a law after 30 days.” The joint committee, it was further
learnt has recommended that a timeline/timeframe be set for the adjudication of
pre-election disputes.
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