Constitution Amendment: 3 Months After, State Assemblies Foot-drag Over Exercise

The much-awaited constitution amendment process embarked upon by the 9th National Assembly is facing a setback despite the passage of 44 bills by the National Aassembly.

LEADERSHIP reports that since 2003, N1 billion is always voted each legislative year to prosecute the constitution amendment bill – N500 million for the Senate and N500 million for the House of Representatives.

Despite far-reaching decisions in the constitution amendment bill that was forwarded to the state houses of assembly for concurrence, the bill is now facing a serious threat.

The clerk to the National Assembly, Arch Amos Ojo, had on March 29, 2022 transmitted 44 Constitution Review Bills to the Clerks of the State Houses of Assembly for concurrence.

LEADERSHIP reports that three months after, the state houses of assembly are yet to return the bills to the National Assembly.

The bills require the approval of two-thirds of State Houses of Assembly or 24 out of the 36 state assemblies to become laws.

There are far-reaching decisions taken by the National Assembly on the bills, one of which includes the much talked-about financial autonomy for state houses of assembly and the states’ judiciary.

Also, the much-needed local government autonomy is waiting for the approval of the state houses of assembly members.

During the last constitution amendment exercise, the state assemblies voted against financial autonomy for themselves. They also denied financial autonomy for the states’ judicial branches and as well as local governments.

Even though the spokesman of the clerk of the National Assembly, Austein Adesoro said the state houses of assembly were yet to return the 44 bills forwarded to them, LEADERSHIP reports that if the bills fail to return to the National Assembly before the tenure of the 9th Assembly elapses, it will be an exercise in futility.

Meanwhile, civil society organisations in the country have said that the National Assembly members are not really interested in constitution amendment, but in the money voted for the exercise.

According to the CSOs, the main motivation for frequent constitution amendment by the lawmakers is the billions of Nigeria voted for exercise each legislative year.

The CSOs said the delay by the state assembly members simply shows that they are learning from their colleagues in the federal legislature.

The CSOs which spoke to LEADERSHIP are: The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) and Transparency International (TI).

Speaking through their leader, Awwal Musa Rafsanjani, the CSOs said most National Assembly members are always interested in what they can get from the legislative process rather than to promote                                                                                                                                          democracy  and good governance.                                                                                                                                               “Like we have always maintained, these members of the National Assembly are not really interested in constitution amendment. What they have done is just to justify the spending from the votes of the constitution amendment. This process has been going on and we have not gotten any favourable progress. As far as we are concerned, the move by the National Assembly to show that they were working on the constitution was to justify the billions and other things spent in the name of constitutional amendment,” he said.

According to Rafsanjani, the lawmakers know what they are doing adding that now that many of the members in the state house of assemblies are not coming back, the same thing with the national assembly, Nigerians should not be surprised.

“Many members of the National Assembly are not coming back, and because it is not work done on the basis of patriotism and for the benefit of democracy, with this setback that many members will not be coming to the assembly, the same thing at the state houses of assembly. It is not surprising that after three months, the state houses of assembly have not returned the bills to the National Assembly. They are simply learning from their bosses or their seniors,” Rafsanjani added.

The chairman, FCT chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Abubakar Hassan Yakub, said their stand on Local Government autonomy, Independence of the State Assemblies and the Judiciary is unchanged.

“LG autonomy, independence of legislature and of the Judiciary is non-negotiable. All stakeholders must work hard and ensure that the constitution amendment becomes a reality,” Yakub said, adding that the 9th assembly had done their part, insisting that the state Assemblies must play their part too.

Also, the president of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) Ambali Hakeem Olatunji, who said that all hands must be on deck to rescue Nigeria, added that local government autonomy should be of paramount importance in the constitution amendment.

He said the struggle to ensure good governance at the local government level must continue even after they are granted autonomy.