The ninth National Assembly’s Constitution review may have been hampered by a conflict of interest between lawmakers and State Houses of Assembly, given that seven months after transmission of the document in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, only 11 of the Federation’s 36 states forwarded their resolutions to the National Assembly.
Ovie Omo-Agege, Chairman of the Constitution Review Committee and Deputy Senate President, expressed frustration last week at a press briefing over the refusal of 25 State Assemblies, which he believed were in cahoots with their governors, to respond either in favor or against, which is within their statutory responsibility.
Omo-Agege believes that the issue of Constitution review has harmed the ninth parliamentarians’ credibility because they promised Nigerians a Constitution amendment that would be acceptable to all. His concerns were also about the possibility of time running out, and the ninth National Assembly has seven months to leave.
He explained that the document sent to the various State Houses of Assembly for their consideration on March 26th, 2022, included 44 bills that had previously been approved by the joint Committee of the upper and lower legislative Chambers out of the 66 bills recommended. Unfortunately, he stated that after a lengthy wait, his Committee was inundated with inquiries about the proposed amendment’s fate.
More concerning was the history of failed attempts to amend the Constitution under the Committee Chairmanship of the now-imprisoned Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who served as Deputy Senate President from 2011 to 2019. Omo-Agege stated that his Committee expeditiously transmitted the bills to State Houses of Assembly in order to change the narrative and rewrite history.
He argued that the proposed amendments detailed in the 44 bills would improve democratic governance in Nigeria, and he questioned why some governors and State Assemblies were unsure of how the nation would benefit. The lawmaker claimed that a change in some provisions of the Constitution between 2003 and 2007, which affects the Electoral Act, improved the conduct of elections in Nigeria.
He said: “Between 2003 and 2007, successive Assemblies have employed an incremental approach to altering the Constitution. Hence, the First, Second, Third and Fourth Constitution (Alteration) Acts were passed and enacted.
“These amendments undoubtedly improved our electoral management and adjudication systems, fostered political participation and addressed other fundamental good governance issues.”
The move to amend the Constitution, according to Omo-Agege, was notoriously triggered by citizens who believed the amendment would solve some contemporary social and political challenges, emphasizing that the process was subjected to citizen participation in order to capture their agitation.
According to him, the purpose of the citizens’ participation was to make the proposed Constitution “a people-oriented working document; thus, the Committee received submissions from socio-cultural, socio-political, Civil Society, and interest groups from across the country’s entire geopolitical zones.” Agitations, as contained in various submissions, formed the fulcrum of the 44 bills that were transmitted to the 36 State Houses of Assembly for approval on March 29, 2022, in accordance with the Constitution’s Section 9(2) stipulations.”
Interestingly, the draft bills succinctly captured the principle of checks and balances, which is consistent with democratic governance, as it would strengthen legislative structures at the State and Local Government Council levels, independent constitutional bodies, address issues of revenue leakages and unbridled government spending, and improve the effectiveness of justice administration in Nigeria.
The bill also granted Local Government autonomy, which would have given the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) the authority to send monthly accrued revenue to Local Government Council accounts without State governors hijacking the fund under the guise of State joint accounts, particularly in “the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fifth Alteration) Bill, No. 1, 2022 (Local Government Financial Autonomy).”
The bill also sought to make teacher salaries the responsibility of the three tiers of government, while the existence of Local Governments would be legitimised in the Constitution, with governors being statutorily barred from tampering with structure except through due process.
The (Fifth Alteration) Bill, No. 2, 2022, which established LG as the third tier of government, also stated that Executives could only be elected, effectively eliminating caretakership appointments.
Despite the bill’s other far-reaching reforms, an Abuja-based lawyer, Barrister Enemaku Aba, told DAILY POST on Thursday that the Constitution review was doomed from the start.
He reasoned that the areas proposed to be amended were directly the conduit pipes of State governors, and that asking the State Assemblies under their control to pass resolutions in support of the proposal was suicide.
He has not seen the draft bills submitted to the State Houses of Assembly, but based on media reports, he believes the amendment will not see the light of day.
“I haven’t actually seen the bills you are referring to, but governors will not allow LG autonomy, State Assemblies autonomy because those are their conduit pipes.
“Afterall, there is no time for the National Assembly anymore. They have started their campaign and the only serious legislative assignment before them now is the 2023 national budget.”
Meanwhile, bills to amend an existing Constitution in Nigeria require the approval of two thirds (24) of the 36 States House of Assembly before the president can assent to it.