The House of Representatives Adhoc
Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution have recommended the removal
of immunity clause for the President, Vice, State Governors and their deputies
in the new constitution .
The recommendation, which is one of
the highlights of the committee’s report, will also have to receive
the nod of the Senate before it becomes a sealed matter.
In the report laid before before the
House in Abuja by its chairman, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha,on Thursday, the
committee also suggested that the President and governors should spend a
maximum of two terms of four years in office as provided for
by the constitution.
However, the report largely adopted
the demands of Nigerians during the November 10, 2012 People’s Public Sessions
on the constitution.
During the sessions, which were held
in the 360 federal constituencies in the country, Nigerians voted on a 43
issues they wanted to be included in the new constitution.
Giving the highlights of the report
to the House, Ihedioha, who is also the Deputy Speaker of the House of
Representatives, said that the committee also worked on 27 constitution
amendment bills proposed by members.
One of the comprehensive
proposals in the report is on local government councils.
The committee has recognised the
local government as a full autonomous third tier of government. It has
therefore granted financial autonomy to them by scrapping the existing
state/local government joint account in the constitution.
In its place, it has created a
special account for the local councils where they can draw their funds directly
from the Federation Account without interference by the state governments.
Similarly, it has prescribed a
uniform four-year tenure for the councils in all parts of the country and
removed the local governments from the legislative control of state Houses of
Assembly.
By this, the State Houses of
Assembly shall no longer legislate for the running of the councils. That
function will now be performed fully by the legislative councils of local
governments.
According to the committee, elections
into the councils will be conducted by the Independent National Electoral
Commission.It therefore wants the existing state Independent Electoral
Commissions to be abolished.
In addition, there will be no more
accommodation for the caretaker committee system of running local government
councils in the proposed constitution.
The report noted, “The reforms
proposed by the committee prescribed the mode of election of local government
officials, their functions, tenure, qualifications for elections, and other
related matters.
“Under the amendment proposed,
elections into local government councils will be managed by the national
election management body, INEC .”
One of the most controversial issues
in the amendment process is the creation of states. But, the
committee recommended that there would be no new states.
It explained, “The committee received
requests for creation of states running into more than 35 . None of the
requests submitted to the committee complied with the procedure for creation of
states outlined in Section 8 of the constitution.
“Accordingly, the committee was
unable to treat any of these requests. The committee however recognises that
the existing provision in the constitution for the creation of new states is
unclear and cumbersome. Accordingly, the committee has clarified the process.”
It however endorsed independent
candidacy in future elections and created an Electoral Offences Commission to
try offenders after elections.
Furthermore, the assent of the
President will not be required for a new constitution to take effect, as the
committee proposed amendments to Section 9 of the constitution to “remove
ambiguities in language with respect to the alteration of the constitution and
further dispense with the requirement for assent of the President to be
obtained for the amendment of the constitution.”
It added, “The committee came to the
conclusion that the rigorous provisions for the alteration of the constitution
by members of the National Assembly and the participation of the 36 state
Houses of Assembly represented such adequate participation of Nigerians and
that assent of the President negated the principle contained therein.”
To guarantee their independence,
the committee placed the offices of the Attorney-General of the Federation, the
Accountant-General of the Federation and the Auditor-General of the Federation
on the first line charge of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation to
“insulate” them from political control.
In line with the position of
Nigerians, the committee recommended the separation of the office of the
Minister of Justice from that of the Attorney-General of the Federation.
Other recommendations include the
provision of roles for traditional rulers in the proposed constitution
“for representation of traditional rulers in the National Council of State and
the creation of a State Council of Chiefs at the state level.”
In a bid to devolve powers, the
committee transferred railways, health, housing and electricity from the
Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent List.
However, the report is not the final
position of the House on the issues. Members will have to debate the bill like
any other and take a final vote.
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Politics