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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The stage is set for voting on the alteration of the 1999 Constitution ( as amended) by the National Assembly. The two chambers of the federal legislature, last Wednesday, received reports of the Special Ad-hoc Committee on Constitution Review.
Already, both chambers of the National Assembly have scheduled to vote on the proposals next week. While the Senate will vote on the Constitution Review on March 1, the House will vote on March 1 and 2.
The Constitution Review Committee, which is jointly chaired by the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege and the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Idris Wase, in its report proposed a total of 68 amendments to the Constitution. The proposals cover critical issues such as devolution of power, local government autonomy, special seats for women in parliament, immunity and pension for presiding officers of the National Assembly, independent candidacy and Diaspora voting.
Also, included in the proposals are the creation of the office of mayor for the Federal Capital Territory Administration ( FCTA), nomination of a minister from the FCT, timeline for the nomination of ministers and commissioners by the president and governors respectively. There is also the proposal to put the Value Added Tax (VAT) on the exclusive legislative list.
Nevertheless, analysts say while some of them are fundamental to good governance, some of them are outrightly ridiculous. Ironically, some of these issues have continued to generate discourse and controversy in the polity.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, had at the inauguration of the House Constitution Review, in October 2020, opined that so many challenges plaguing the country lie “ in the pages of a new Nigerian constitution.”
“We are commencing this constitutional review process at a time of great and ongoing upheaval in our country. New challenges emerge daily from every corner.
“Some of these challenges are of our own making, and others, we could not have foreseen or been prepared for. Whichever may be the case, the Nigerian people look up to us as government to proffer solutions that work, to do the heavy lifting of writing new constitution, one better suited to our current aspirations and reflecting our vision of the future, “ Gbajabiamila had stated.
However, the question is what does these proposed amendments mean for the country if they scale through in the current efforts to review the 1999 Constitution (as amended). How far would they go in addressing the myriads of problems confronting the country.
Devolution of power
Analysts say one of the critical issues in the ongoing Constitution review exercise is the proposal for the devolution of power to states. There are currently 68 items in the exclusive legislative list, which only the Federal Government can legislate on. These include: defence, immigration, customs and excise, policing, airport, power, prisons, banking and currency, mining etc.
However, over the years, there have been clamour for devolution of more powers to the states to reflect the federal structure of the country. Efforts by the parliament to devolve more powers to the states, in the last constitution review exercise, did not scale through as the proposal was rejected in the two chambers of the National Assembly, to the consternation of several stakeholders.
Apparently, in response to the clamour for a restructuring of the polity, the parliament is seeking to move some of the items in the exclusive list to the concurrent list..
The proposal for the devolution of power is encapsulated in four bills, which seek to remove railways, prisons, airports and power from the exclusive legislative list. The implication is that if the proposal sails through, states can legislate over issues relating to prisons, airports, railways, and power distribution within their jurisdiction. Specifically, if the proposal on power sails through, states will be able to” generate, transmit and distribute electricity in area covered by the national grid.’
Curiously, state policing, and mining, are missing in the list of items the National Assembly is proposing to remove from the exclusive list. Also, not a few believe that moving mining to the concurrent legislative list would put more financial resources at the disposal of the states. In recent times, there have been relentless clamour for state policing as part of efforts to address the debilitating security challenges across the country.
Special legislative seats for women
There are three proposals that affect women directly. These are the proposals for affirmative action, special quota, and special legislative seats.
Specifically, the proposal for special legislative seats is seeking to create a total of 147 seats exclusively for women in the parliament, at both the state and federal levels. If the proposal sails through, one Senate seat each and two House of Representatives seats will be created for women in the 36 states and the FCT.
Also, one special seat will be created for women in the 36 states houses of Assembly.
One of the sponsors of the bill, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, during a debate on the proposed legislation, in the House, had argued that it will increase women representation in the parliament.
Onyejeocha said: “women have only 4.4% percent representation in the 9th National Assembly.You may wish to note that Nigeria has been identified as the worst performer in women representation in parliaments, in the West African region and one of the lowest in the whole of Africa.
“This is evidenced in the most recent Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU) ranking of women in parliaments where Nigeria ranks 179 out of 187 countries worldwide.”
LG autonomy
The proposed amendments to the Constitution include the abrogation of the states/local governments joint account, “ to establish Local Government as a tier of government and guarantee their democratic existence, tenure”.
Since 2002 when the tenure of the first set of local government chairmen, elected in the present democratic dispensation elapsed, local governments have been under the total control of the governors. The governors through the various state houses of Assembly determine the tenure of the council chairmen.
Besides, the governors decide who becomes local government chairmen. In most cases, the state chief executives handpick caretaker committees to superintend over the local government areas. And when elections are held, the governors’ political parties win almost all the chairmanship and councillorship positions. Similarly, the governors also determine how much gets to the local government areas from their federal allocations, through the state/ local government joint account operational in most of the states.
Fundamentally, the local government bills are intended to free the council areas from the grip of state governors. If the proposals sail through, the local government areas will enjoy administrative and financial autonomy like the states and Federal Government.
Mayor for FCT
Likewise, the proposed amendment include creation of the the Office of the Mayor for the Federal Capital Territory Administration(FCTA), Abuja and to “provide for appointment of a minister from the FCT.”
Abuja, which supposedly enjoys the status of a state, is currently administered by a minister, who is appointed by the President. It equally does not enjoy the privilege of producing a minister like the 36 states. However, it is seeking to change this in the ongoing constitution review.
If the two proposals on the FCT scale through, Abuja will have a mayor, who will be elected, where a minister will now be appointed from the FCT.
Impunity, pension for NASS presiding officers
Also, the parliament is proposing an extension of immunity to the heads of judiciary and legislative arms of government, as well as pension for presiding officers of the National Assembly. The presiding officers are the Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Deputy Speaker.
Presently, only the heads of the executive arms of government enjoys immunity from criminal prosecution.
Nevertheless, the proposal for pension and immunity from criminal prosecution for presiding officers of the National Assembly, has been very controversial within and outside the legislature.
Independent candidacy and Diaspora voting
Similarly, the National Assembly is proposing the alteration of the constitution to provide for Diaspora voting and independent candidacy in presidential, governorship, National Assembly, state Houses of Assembly and local government councils elections.
These two proposals if approved will help to open up the democratic space. With independent candidacy, it will no longer be mandatory for aspirants to elective offices to be members of political parties. Besides, Diaspora voting, will also make it possible for Nigerians in Diaspora to vote during national elections.
Hurdles
Review of the Constitution has never been a piece of cake. The review of the Constitution is a three step process, involving the National Assembly, the state houses of assembly and the President. For any section of the constitution to be amended, it must be supported by 240 House of Representatives members and 73 senators, which constitute two/third majority of members in the House and Senate respectively.
However, if any proposed amendment is rejected in one chamber, it automatically dies in the other chamber. Proposals approved by the two chambers are sent to the 36 states Houses of Assembly, where they must be supported by 24 states. Thereafter, the approved proposals are sent to the President for his assent.
Regardless, pundits say state governors are seemingly the ultimate factor that decide what get passed in a Constitution review exercise. This is because, in most cases, the governors are in total control of their respective state Houses of Assembly.
Therefore, not a few are watching to see how the National Assembly can push through with these proposals, especially as some of them like the local government autonomy and VAT, are perceived to be against the interest of the governors.
The chairman Conference of Speakers of State Houses of Assembly, Abubakar Suleiman said it is imperative to engage with the executive on the constitution review process.
Suleiman, who is also the speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, while speaking at a retreat for the National Assembly Constitution Review Committee and the Conference of Speakers, said the support of the executive is crucial to the success of the exercise.
According to him, “public hearings have been conducted to harness inputs of the citizens and the conference of Speakers of state Assemblies have been engaged in the exercise. We ask the National Assembly to carry along other major stakeholders like the Presidency and the Executive Governors in the amendment of the constitution.
“We are particular about the Executive arm of government due to past experience in withholding presidential assent and the issue of implementation at the state level. This call is borne out of genuine concern toward accomplishment of this noble exercise in consideration of our rigorous efforts and scarce resources committed to the exercise”.
