Constitution Review: Next President, Govs Must Nominate Cabinets Within First 60 Days In Office

The next President of Nigeria after incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari and the 36 State governors from May 29, 2023, must nominate their Cabinet members – Ministers and Commissioners as the case may be – within the first 60 days after assumption of office.

The development is a feature of a new piece of legislation among 16 Constitution Alteration Bills signed into law by President Muhammadu Bubari on Friday.

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and chairman, House Committee on the Review of 1999 Constitution, Idris Wase, in a statement on Friday, who disclosed this, commended the President for giving assent to the Bills, which according to him, will devolve more powers to the States of the Federation.

The new amendment to the constitution requires the president and governors to submit the names of persons nominated as ministers or commissioners within sixty days of taking the oath of office for confirmation by the Senate or State House of Assembly as the case may be.

This specifically means that the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and all the 36 governors that would be elected in the Saturday’s elections and expected to take their oaths of poffice on May 29, must submit lists of nominees for ministers and commissioners respectively before the end of July.

Also, the Bill on financial independence of State Houses of Assembly and State Judiciary is one of the Bills signed by the president. Other Bills signed by the president were on the removal of the railway, prison and electricity from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent list.

The National Assembly had in January transmitted 35 constitution amendment bills to the president for assent.

The 35 bills have been considered by 27 State Houses of Assembly (SHA) and approved by at least 24 state assemblies as required by Section 9 of the Constitution.

The state assemblies, however, failed to vote on the two bills that seek financial and legislative autonomy for local governments.

But the deputy speaker, Wase in a statement said four of the bills would address the call for true fiscal federalism.

The deputy speaker also congratulated members of the 9th National Assembly for working tirelessly to ensure the passage of these legacy legislations.

The 16 bills president Buhari assented to include;

“Fifth Alteration (No.9), the Bill seeks to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to delete the reference to the provisions of the Criminal Code, Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Act, Criminal Procedure Code or Evidence Act; and for related matters.

“Fifth Alteration (No.8), the Bill seeks to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to regulate the first session and inauguration of members-elect of the National and State Houses of Assembly; and for related matters.

“Fifth Alteration (No.10), the Bill seeks to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to exclude the period of intervening events in the computation of time for determining pre-election petitions, election petitions and appeals; and for related matters.”

“Fifth Alteration (No.12), the Bill seeks to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to provide for the post-call qualification of the Secretary of the National Judicial Council; and for related matters.

“Fifth Alteration (No.15), the Bill seeks to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to delete the item “prisons” in the Exclusive Legislative List and redesignate it as “Correctional Services” in the Concurrent Legislative List; and for related matters.

“Fifth Alteration (No.16), the Bill seeks to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to move the item “railways” from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List; and for related matters.

“Fifth Alteration (No.17), the Bill seeks to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to allow States to generate, transmit and distribute electricity in areas covered by the national grid; and for related matters.

“In Fifth Alteration (No.32), the Bill seeks to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to correct the error in the definition of the boundary of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja; and for related matters.”