The Houses of Assembly in Benue, Borno, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Kaduna, Lagos, Ondo, Rivers, Yobe, and Imo states have voted against financial autonomy for the 774 local governments in the ongoing amendments to the 1999 Constitution, as reported by Sunday. To date, 27 state Houses of Assembly have cast their votes on the 44 constitutional amendment bills that were passed and transmitted to the 36 states by the National Assembly. As of Thursday, the states yet to vote and forward the amendment bills to the National Assembly include Gombe, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, and Zamfara.
Last week, both the Senate and the House of Representatives approved the transmission of bills aimed at amending various sections of the 1999 Constitution, which had already been passed by the state Houses of Assembly, to President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) for assent. At least 35 of the 44 bills received approval from the Assemblies in concurrence with the National Assembly. To amend a clause in the Constitution, a two-thirds or four-fifths majority in both the Senate and the House must approve the amendment, after which it is sent to the state Houses of Assembly, where a two-thirds majority—24 out of 36—must concur.
Records obtained by our correspondent on Saturday indicated that 11 states rejected financial autonomy for local governments. These states are Benue, Borno, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Kaduna, Lagos, Ondo, Rivers, Yobe, and Imo. In contrast, 15 states voted in favor of the proposal: Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Cross-River, Delta, Edo, Enugu, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, and Osun. Additionally, Adamawa and Bayelsa abstained from the vote. Similarly, 12 of the 36 states opposed administrative autonomy for local governments, including Benue, Borno, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Kano, Lagos, Niger, Ondo, Rivers, Yobe, and Imo. Conversely, 14 states—Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Cross-River, Delta, Edo, Enugu, Kaduna, Katsina, Kogi, Nasarawa, Ogun, and Osun—approved the bill.
Another bill that failed to pass proposed a uniform retirement age for judicial officers and pension rights. This legislation, titled “A Bill for An Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Ensure Uniformity in the Retirement Age and Pension Rights of Judicial Officers of Superior Courts of Record: and for Related Matters,” saw support from 23 states: Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross-River, Delta, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Yobe, and Imo. In contrast, Ebonyi, Niger, and Rivers voted against it, while Adamawa abstained.
Meanwhile, the bills for financial autonomy for state legislatures and the state judiciary were successfully passed, with 26 states—Abia, Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross-River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Rivers, and Yobe—supporting the legislation. This bill is titled “A Bill for An Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Provide for the Financial Independence of State Houses of Assembly and State Judiciary; and for Related Matters.” Ironically, the Imo State House of Assembly was the only state legislature that voted against financial autonomy for both the state judiciary and legislature. Those who abstained from this bill include Gombe, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, and Zamfara.
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