The speakers of the houses of
assembly are asking for the introduction of devolution of powers in the next
round of constitution amendment.
In 2017, the senate rejected a
proposal for devolution of power.
Speaking on Thursday when lawmakers
from state assemblies visited the national assembly, Abdulmumin Kamba, chairman
of the speakers of houses of assembly, appealed to the federal lawmakers to
reconsider their decision on the devolution of power.
Kamba, who is speaker of the
Kebbi state house of assembly, returned the voting by states houses of assembly
on the constitution amendment bill transmitted to them for assent by the
national assembly, to Senate President Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara.
Constitution amendments only
become operative after they have been passed by at least 24 state houses of
assembly and two-thirds of the national assembly.
“The procedure of amending the
constitution has more to do with the legislative than the executive,” Kamba
said.
“The devolution of power was part
of the amendment which has been seriously condemned, it’s our hope that we
bring back the devolution of powers.”
The state assemblies, however,
rejected autonomy for local government.
Dogara expressed disappointment
over the failure of state lawmakers to grant autonomy to local government in
the ongoing constitution amendment.
But he said all hope is not lost
as they can still decide to give their approval when the national assembly
presents it again in the future.
He, however, commended the
lawmakers for granting state legislatures autonomy, saying they were courageous
to take the bold step.
“I must commend you for deciding
that the legislature in states should be independent. However, this is not an
expression of the opinion of the National Assembly, I want to appropriate this
as my personal opinion,” he said.
“I can say that I am disappointed
because I thought that the courage demonstrated by these highly skilled
legislators, some of whom are seated before us, would have delivered the long
awaited local government autonomy, but unfortunately, maybe our courage didn’t
go that far.
“But you see, courage isn’t
really the absence of fear, but it is acting in spite of your fears and if it
was not because of men and women of courage, I tell you that the democracy
itself that we experience now wouldn’t have been possible. When William
Wilberforce said slaves must be free, he belonged to the party, majority of
whom, were slave owners and on account of that, a revolution started.”
Dogara said while most of the
measures the national assembly is seeking to introduce may not be popular, if
they stand by them, the kind of future that will come from it will only ensure
the deepening of democracy and the progress of our Nigeria.
Clauses approved by the state
houses of Assembly include reduction of period for extra budgetary expenditure
by the execvutive from six to three months , legislative immunity for
lawmakers, new regulations governing conducts of bye elections by INEC, removal
of the word “Force” from Nigeria Police, limiting the tenure of presidents and
governors to eight years by not taking oath of office more than twice,
reduction in age for elective offices, stipulation of date for budget
presentation by the president, inclusion of Nigeria Security and Civil Defense
Corps in the constitution among others.
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