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The current effort by the National Assembly to amend the 1999 Constitution can be said to be encouraging with the passage of 48 out of 68 bills listed for amendment. Not less than 20 of the bills were equally rejected by the lawmakers. The exercise is, indeed, a great improvement on past attempts to review the contentious 1999 Constitution.
The bills that received the nod of the lawmakers included the financial and administrative autonomy for local governments, financial independence for State Houses of Assembly and State Judiciary, allowing states to run airports, railways and correctional service as well as the power to states to generate, transmit and distribute electricity in area covered by national grid. At the same time, the timeline for presentation of appropriation bill by president and governors, as well as timeline for president and governors to submit names of ministerial nominees and commissioners as well as State of the Nation and State of the State Address were also approved by the lawmakers.
In addition, the amendment also provided that any elected official that dumps a political party that provided the platform for his or her election shall be made to lose the seat. It also approved independent candidacy for elections, and free, compulsory and basic education. However, the bills which were rejected by NASS included gender bills, Diaspora voting, expansion of the scope of executive immunity, affirmative action among others.
In all, member of NASS must be commended too for the rejection of life pension for principal officers of the National Assembly as well as placing the Value Added Tax (VAT) in the Concurrent List of the Constitution. Without doubt, the decision to leave VAT in the Concurrent legislative List is in line with the thinking of many Nigerians. It will make the states and governors look inwards and come up with initiatives that will boost their revenue generation efforts.
Similarly, we believe that guaranteeing financial and administrative autonomy for the local governments, judiciary and state assemblies will free them from the stranglehold of the executive and ensure citizen participation in the democratic process. Since the local government is the closest to the people, autonomy to that tier of government will free it from the dictatorial tendencies of the state governments. In the same vein, the proposal for free, compulsory basic education is commendable. If this policy is properly implanted, it will largely reduce the growing number of children outside the school system, currently put at over 15 million. Equally, the decision to allow states generate, transmit and distribute electricity in areas covered by the national grid will improve power supply nationwide.
For having thus gone far in the constitution alteration exercise, the lawmakers must be applauded for the great job done so far. However, the issue of state police, resource control and others many Nigerians have canvassed for must be included in the current effort to review the Constitution. Policing in Nigeria is a serious issue that cannot be trifled with. Many Nigerians have argued that the current centralised policing system is responsible for rising insecurity in the country.
Therefore, issue of state policing must be revisited by NASS and ensure that Nigeria, like other federations, should have at least four levels of policing; federal, state, council and community. We also urge the lawmakers to revisit the gender bills, especially the affirmative action on women representation at state and national levels as well as in the legislature. We earnestly believe that passing the gender bills will ensure gender inclusion and equality, a necessary condition for the socio-economic development of the country. Nigeria cannot develop when about 60 per cent of its population are seemingly excluded from its politics and economy.
Nevertheless, the National Assembly has done its bit in amending the observed lapses in the 1999 Constitution. However, they should not relax until the process is over. Therefore, the next step is for the state houses of assembly to approve what the NASS has done when the time comes. Let the state legislatures be bold enough to align with the federal lawmakers in the amendment process.
We urge the lawmakers at the state level to rise beyond mundane considerations and give concurrence to the amendments this time round. Nigerians should not relent in ensuring that the amendments sail through and get signed into law. Although previous efforts to amend the Constitution were regrettably thwarted at the state level, we call for a departure from that ugly past.
