Gbajabiamila: N/Assembly erred on devolution of powers

The National Assembly erred in rejecting devolution of powers during voting on the ongoing constitution amendment process, House Leader Femi Gbajabiamila has said.

He said the error was because many items were ‘lumped’ together under a sub-heading titled ‘devolution of powers.’

Gbajabiamila said the House might revisit the matter, on its resumption from annual recess in September.

“Many of us will be asking for the issue of devolution of powers to be revisited upon resumption in September. The democratic process was played out as it should be during the voting exercise. However the process is ongoing and not concluded.

“Under our rules we do have a mechanism, which allows for rescission of a decision when appropriate or when new unknown facts emerge.

“For me it was a mistake or oversight to have lumped all items for devolution under one umbrella or subhead titled devolution of powers. There were about 9 items including Railways, Pensions, Arbitration, Stamp Duties, Parks and others under the subhead and members should have voted on each rather than vote in one fell swoop.”