The House of Representatives has approved the transmission of bills aimed at amending various sections of the 1999 Constitution. These bills, which have already been passed by the state Houses of Assembly, are now set to be sent to President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) for his assent. Among the proposed amendments is the devolution of powers from the Federal Government to the states, which involves moving certain items from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent List within the Constitution.
During the plenary session on Wednesday, Abubakar Fulata, the Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, introduced a motion to transmit 35 of the 44 bills that had been sent to the state Assemblies in concurrence with the National Assembly. This motion was sponsored by Deputy Speaker Ahmed Wase, who also serves as Co-Chairman of the Joint Senate and House of Representatives Special Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution.
To amend any clause in the Constitution, a two-thirds or four-fifths majority of both the Senate and the House of Representatives must approve the amendment. Following this, the amendment is transmitted to the state Houses of Assembly, where it requires the concurrence of two-thirds, or 24 out of the 36 assemblies. Fulata emphasized that Section 9(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) stipulates that an Act to alter the Constitution can only be passed with the support of a two-thirds majority from both chambers and approval from 24 state Houses of Assembly.
He also recalled that on February 23, 2022, a total of 68 bills seeking to amend the Constitution were presented to both the House and the Senate. Of these, 44 bills were approved without any differences and were subsequently transmitted to the state Houses of Assembly for their resolutions on March 27, 2022. Fulata noted that 27 state Houses of Assembly—namely Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Rivers, and Yobe—have forwarded their resolutions regarding the bills. He concluded by stating that the House is confident that the 35 Constitution alteration bills listed have met the requirements of Section 9(2) of the Constitution for passage into law, having received approval from at least 24 state Houses of Assembly.
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