Amendment: How states assemblies will vote on controversial sections
After a total of 24 sections of the 1999 Constitution were amended by the two chambers of the National Assembly, it is now the turn of the 36 houses of assembly in states to approve or reject the exercise. We pick five controversial sections and gauge peo
By Hamza Idris (Abuja), Lami Sadiq (Jos), Aliyu M. Hamagam (Dutse), Romoke W. Ahmad (Ilorin) & Hassan Ibrahim (Lafiya)
Financial autonomy state legislatures The bill, which seeks to provide for the funding of the Houses of Assembly directly from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the states, is now on its second journey to the states assembly. It was first passed by the National Assembly during the 2010 constitution amendment, but was curiously rejected by the states when it failed to secure two-third majority of all the houses to give it the legitimacy of going forward to the president for his assent.
Analysts and former states’ lawmakers said as important as the bill was during the 7th assembly, it was killed by state lawmakers because of “intimidating posture of governors.”
The bill provides for first line charge from states’ finances for the Houses of Assembly which would make them financially buoyant.
“No governor will be comfortable with this; it is like usurping his powers,” said Barr. Ahmed Umar, a legal practitioner in Abuja.
A former Minority Leader in the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Hon. Baba Abubakar Suleiman, said governors would do everything to maintain the status-quo, saying the legislators lacked the courage to challenge governors.
“There are a lot of factors; we have the capacity gap, the political relationship between the governor and the leadership of the House of Assembly. You hardly get legislators that are highly principled when it comes to decision making that requires challenging their governors.
“Governors decide who go to the state assembly and can mastermind impeachment proceedings for recalcitrant members even when the matters they are pursuing are critical to the livelihood of the larger society,” he said.
Deputy Speaker of Plateau State House of Assembly, Hon. Shehu Saleh Yipmong, who represents Kanam Constituency, said the issue of financial autonomy for state legislation is a welcome development which is not aimed at benefiting the incumbent parliamentarians but the system.
“It will open up the system and put the parliamentarians on the threshold for development because most times, you realized that there are certain functions that the members will want to carry but of they have to write a memo and all the bureaucratic obstacles, which put the House in a position of borrowing and that is a heavyweight that is not good for the system,” he said.
There are fears that governors may influence legislators in their states to see that the section does not see the light of day.
Distributable pool account/ Joint Account
This bill seeks to alter Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution to abrogate the State and Local Government Joint Account. Analysts believe this is the most controversial cash-cow for governors which will fail at the state assemblies even after it was passed at the centre.
“It is the most abused of all the privileges at the disposal of state authorities and they would do everything to retain it,” said Umar Aminu, a school teacher in Maiadua Local Government Area of Katsina State.
“Instead of the governors to add to the funds for local governments, they take everything and give stipends to so-called chairmen,” he said.
On his part, the ex- Bauchi Assembly Minority Leader said, “In many states, local governments do not have the capacity to execute a N10, 000 projects for their people. One of the primary responsibilities of the local government councils is hygiene but in many local government areas, you see heap of refuse litter everywhere because the so-called council chairmen could not even pay for the evacuation.
“As it is now, because governors are using resources through the so-called joint account, they would not be willing to give away the local councils just like that. States thrive on illegal deductions from what goes to the local governments.
“The Governors Forum would hardly allow two-third of their assemblies to vote in favour of it,” he said.
Another stumbling block is that though the bill might likely scale through in some northern states, there are indications it would suffer a setback in the South.
For instance, the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) from the South West, last week, opposed the autonomy for local governments, saying it came with “hidden traps set to benefit Fulani herdsmen.”
The group, in a statement signed by its National Chairman, Olawale Osun, alleged a link between the retention of Land Use Act in the Constitution and proposals to grant the local governments autonomy.
But Senate Leader Ahmed Lawan (APC, Yobe North), has since debunked the claim saying, “The idea is simply to give the local government areas the opportunity and the chance to function better and more efficiently; there is no any hidden agenda.
The Chairman, House Committee on Information at the Jigawa State House Assembly, Mohammed Abdullahi Balangu, has mixed feelings.
He said he supports local government councils’ autonomy in the country but on the other hand expressed scepticism over their capacity to operate independently without a joint account.
He cited example with Jigawa, where he said if allowed to be alone, there are some LGAs that could collapse because they can hardly pay even salaries, not to talk of embarking on any meaningful project.
Balangu, therefore, argued that in this regard, autonomy will not be meaningful because it is at this point that the issue of joint account come into play.
“Revenues for LGCs will be in a single pool for redistribution in order for all to be functional,” he said.
However, the Plateau Assembly Deputy Speaker Yipmong said lack of development at the grassroots is partially blamed on the subjugation of the local government by the state.
The leader of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Hon. Hassan Oyeleke, said Kwarans would have input in support or rejection of some of the bills.
INEC taking over responsibility of conducting LG polls from SIECs
There is a generation consensus that local government elections were a complete failure because all the state independent electoral commissions (SIECs) conduct them at the whims and caprices of the ruling party.
At present, wherever the so-called elections were held, the ruling party, whether the APC or the PDP takes all, leaving almost nothing for the opposition.
Analysts, therefore, argued that giving the mandate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will restore some sanity.
“Of course, SIECs are products of the constitution but as long as it is the state governors that would continue to conduct polls, we would never have free and fair elections at the third tier of government; and failure to have democratically elected councils is one of the reasons aggravating poverty at the local level,” the Bauchi ex-Minority Leader Suleiman, said.
It is believed that state governors, unwilling to lose their control over state electoral bodies that guarantee their parties victory in local council polls, will ensure the bill is killed by states’ assemblies. Restricting tenure of president or governor
This bill seeks to restrict a person who was sworn in as president or governor to complete the term from contesting for the same office for more than one term.
Unarguably, framers of the 1999 Constitution did not envisage that a situation, such as that of the late Yobe State Governor Mamman Ali, who died on January 27, 2009 in Florida, United States; and that of the late President Umaru Yar’adua, who died on May 10, 2010, in Abuja would arise.
The death of the duo led to serious dilemma when their successors, Ibrahim Gaidam and Goodluck Jonathan, respectively, completed the tenures of their bosses, then contested in 2011 and won and then once again contested in 2015.
Gaidam, who would bow out in 2019, has taken oath of office three times (and in the constitution nobody should take more than twice); and would have spent 10 years as executive governor. Jonathan on the other hand lost and had it been he won, he would have spent nine years in power by 2019.
Feelers have it that this bill might enjoy rapid support at all levels, including outgoing governors and presidents, who would have nothing to fear because none of them would love to die while on the throne. Authorisation of Expenditure The bill seeks to alter Sections 82 and 122 of the 1999 Constitution to reduce the period within which the president or governors may authorise the withdrawal of monies from the Consolidated Revenue Fund in the absence of an appropriation act from six to three months.
Observers believe that this bill would only be more contentious at the national level, when it sails through from the states for presidential assent.
“Budget is not always contentious at the state level, but it is at the national level,” said Umar Sani, a chartered accountant.
“It would be good to amend the bill because right now, a governor or president can continue implementing the budget of last year for the next six months; that is why we have so many issues.
“Also, under the current arrangement, a governor can submit his budget to the state assembly but get it back in two weeks because of obvious reasons; but it is not the same at the National Assembly because the federal legislators have enormous powers,” he said.