The agitation for
fiscal federalism has been on for years, with various groups within the South-South and South-East, as well as the South-West, advancing very staunch
defence of it.
In the South-South, the clamour for fiscal federalism anchored
on resource control has been championed for decades by rights activists, elder
forums, youth groups, and more notably, militants. The widespread militancy
represented by groups such as Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta
(MEND) and more recently, Niger Delta Avengers, advocated for full fiscal
autonomy and resorted to kidnappings and attacks on oil installations to
strongly make their case.
In the South-East, different political and separatist groups
have championed the call not only for regionalism and confederalism, but also
for secession. On the cultural and political front, Ohanaeze led the
calls. The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra
(MASSOB) led by Ralph Uwazuruike and the now-dominant Indigenous People of
Biafra (IPOB) led by the highly influential and divisive Nnamdi Kanu, have
championed calls for secession, hinting at confederalism as the only possible
compromise acceptable.
The South West has not been without its restructuring advocates.
Loud calls for restructuring have been heard from groups such as the pan-Yoruba
socio-cultural group, Afenifere, and the now-factionalised Yoruba nationalist
group, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) made prominent by the armed
struggle-advocating Gani Adams. The South West has pushed an abundance of
proposals mostly centred around true federalism.
For the most part, the North has been firm in its rejection of
calls for fiscal federalism as it views it as an attempt to economically
disempower it since the bulk of Nigeria’s shared revenue come from the oil-rich
Niger Delta.
With the seeming death of the report of the 2014 National
Conference, many restructuring advocates had hoped the constitutional review
effort of the National Assembly will take into cognizance what they viewed as a
broken and flawed federal system in approaching the process, and finally fix
the system by approving wholesale restructuring that will be anchored on fiscal
federalism.
These wishes and expectations have now been disregarded by the
Senate, in a move that will certainly irk advocates in this region, and only
spur greater agitation.
That the central issues around restructuring, highlighted by
fiscal federalism, would not be considered for debate did not come as a
surprise as it was already in public domain. Deputy Senate President and
Chairman of the Joint Constitution Amendment Committee confirmed the absence
from the final review report prior.
He even went ahead to confirm the worst fears of advocates for
true federalism and restructuring by stating that there was no hope for
consideration of fiscal autonomy anytime soon owing to lack of consensus,
meaning that the rights of states to exploit their resource deposits will
remain an unsettled issue for the foreseeable future.
He stated that, “If we are patient and we go about restructuring
in an incremental manner, I give it three, four, five years, we will get to
where we want to be… Restructuring would not happen as a bill because it would
not succeed”.
Ekweremadu hinged his optimism for the success of his proposed incremental
approach to restructuring majorly on the inclusion of devolution of powers into
the final report which he believed will pass in the senate.
Therefore, his revelations, many believe, already clearly
exposed the lawmakers as adherents of the politics of convenience, choosing to
take flight from the controversial but truly fundamental issues that hold the
potential to redefine the country in such a way as will guarantee balance and
equity.
And on the evidence of Wednesday’s proceedings, many will conclude
that the senate has been shown to have an even weaker spine, as Ekweremadu’s
consolation offer of devolution of powers was killed.
The upper chamber dumped the Devolution of Powers Amendment
Bill which had sought to alter the Second Schedule, Part I & II to
move certain items to the Concurrent Legislative List to give more legislative
powers to states. It had also intended to delineate the extent to which the
federal legislature and state assemblies can legislate on the items that have
been moved to the Concurrent Legislative List.
This was not all; other restructuring-associated amendments
touching on issues of indigeneship, state creation and Land Use Act, were also
killed.
To this end, the senate rejected the State Creation and Boundary
Adjustment Bill, Citizenship and Indigeneship Bill, and Deletion of the Land
Use Act Bill.
What many will see as a total defiance of the widespread and
prevalent call for restructuring is sure to be considered an affront on the
interests of especially the South-South and South-East, and will only add
further fuel to the already intense and heightened agitation for urgent
restructuring of the country.
Details of all the
amendments considered by the senate and their status are presented below:
Under item 11 of the amendment bills, which provides for a
Timeframe for submitting the Names of Ministerial or Commissioner-Nominees, the
Senate rejected a clause which had provided a 35 per cent affirmative action
for women at the federal level and 20 per cent at the state level.
Amendments passed include Composition of Members of the Council
of State. This bill seeks to amend the Third Schedule to include former
Presidents of the Senate and Speakers of the House of Representatives in the
composition of the Council of State.
Authorisation of Expenditure Bill was passed. This bill
seeks to alter sections 82 and 122 of the Constitution to reduce the period
within which the President or Governor of a state may authorise the withdrawal
of monies from the consolidated revenue fund in the absence of an appropriation
act from 6 months to 3 months.
Others bills passed are Financial Autonomy of State
Legislatures, Distributable Pool Account, Local Government, The Legislature and
Political Parties and Electoral Matters.
The Senate also considered and passed Political Parties and
Electoral Matters, Presidential Assent, Timeframe for submitting the Names
Ministerial or Commissioners Nominees, Appointment of Minister from the FCT,
Change of Names of some Local Government Councils, Independent Candidature, The
Police and Restriction of Tenure of the President and Governor bills.
Separation of the Office of Accountant-General, Office of the
Auditor-General, Separation of the office of the Attorney-General of the
Federation and of the State from the office of the Minister or Commissioner for
Justice, Judiciary, Determination of Pre-Election Matters and Civil Defence
bills were debated and passed by the Red Chamber.
Similarly procedure for Presidential veto in Constitutional
Alteration, Removal of certain Acts from the Constitution, Investments and
Securities Tribunal, Reduction of Age Qualification, Authorisation of
Expenditure 1, Deletion of the NYSC Decree from the Constitution, Deletion of
the Public Complaints Commission Act from the Constitution and Deletion of
State Independent Electoral Commission were considered and passed.
The conclusion of the constitution review exercise is coming
nineteen months after the Senate constituted its Constitution Review Committee,
which was headed by the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu.
Soon after the voting exercise, President of the Senate, Bukola
Saraki, who presided, said the upper chamber has laid a solid foundation for
future generations.
He said by the passage of the amendment bills, issues which
hitherto hampered the development of the country will be resolved.
In all, about 95 senators were present and voted. Suspended
former Leader of the Senate, Ali Ndume, was not present. Anambra Central
Senatorial District is still yet to be filled.
In all, there are currently 107 senators, including Saraki.
About twelve out of this figure, did not attend yesterday’s plenary. As at the
time of filing in this report, Ripples Nigeria could not ascertain the
identities of those who were absent.
For any section of the constitution to be amended, two-third
majority of 109 senators must vote in the affirmative.
For Section 9 of the Constitution to be altered, two-fourth
majority of 109 senators must vote as well. These are the procedures adopted in
the National Assembly during constitution amendment exercises.
On the issue of Composition of Members of Council of State, 95
members voted in favour of the bill.
Authorisation of Expenditure Bill got 93 votes, while one
senator voted against it. One lawmaker abstained.
On Devolution of Powers Bill, which deals with restructuring, 46
senators voted in favour of it, while 48 voted against it. One senator
abstained.
Financial Autonomy of State Legislatures Bill got 90 favourable
votes, while 5 voted against it. No senator abstained.
Distributable Pool Account Bill which seeks to abrogate the
State Joint Local Government Accounts and empower each local government council
to maintain its own special account, got 84 votes. Only 8 voted against it. One
lawmaker abstained.
Local Government Bill which seeks to strengthen local government
administration in Nigeria, got 88 votes. 7 senators voted against it. Only
lawmaker abstained.
State Creation and Boundary Adjustment Bill got 47 votes. 48
lawmakers voted against the controversial bill. No lawmaker abstained.
The Legislature Alteration Bill got 93 votes. Only 1 senator
voted against it. No lawmaker abstained.
Political Parties and Electoral Matters Bill which seeks to
provide sufficient time for the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) to conduct bye-elections, got 90 votes. No lawmaker voted against it,
although some abstained.
Presidential Assent Bill got 95 votes. 1 senator voted against
it. No lawmaker abstained.
Timeframe for submitting the Names of Ministerial or
Commissioner Nominees Bill, got 75 votes. 19 voted against the bill. No one
abstained.
Appointment of Minister of the FCT Bill got 77 votes. 12
senators voted against and 3 abstained.
Change of Names of Local Government Councils Bill got 84 votes.
2 senators kicked against it, while 2 abstained.
Independent Candidature Bill which was carried with 82 votes,
while 5 voted against it. Only 3 abstained.
The Police Bill which seeks to change the name of the Police
from Nigeria Police Force to Nigeria Police in order to reflect their core
mandate got 87 votes. 2 lawmakers voted against it and 1 person abstained.
Restriction of Tenure of the President and Governor Bill got 88
votes. No lawmaker voted against it. Only 1 person abstained.
Separation of the Office of Accountant-General Bill got 89
votes. No lawmaker voted against it. None abstained either.
Office of the Auditor-General Bill which seeks to make the
office financially independent by placing it on first-line charges in the
Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation and the States, got 95 favourable
votes. None voted against or abstained.
Separation of Office of Attorney-General of the Federation and
of the State from the office of the Minister or Commissioner of Justice bill
got 95 votes. Only 1 person voted against it, while 1 other abstained.
Judiciary Bill which seeks to alter the composition of the
National Judicial Council and empower Justices of the Supreme Court and Court
of Appeal to hear certain applications in chambers, got 97 votes. None voted
against or abstained.
Civil Defence Bill which seeks to reflect the establishment and
core functions of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, got 79 votes.
About 15 voted against it, while one lawmaker abstained.
Citizenship and Indigeneship Bill which seeks to guarantee a
married woman’s right to choose either her Indigeneship by birth or by marriage
for the purpose of appointment or election, got 49 votes. 46 voted against.
None abstained.
Procedure for overriding Presidential veto in Constitutional
Alteration Bill, got 92 votes. 4 persons voted against it, while no lawmaker
abstained. This is the only aspect of the amendment that requires one-fourth of
votes to be passed.
Removal of certain Acts from the Constitution Bill got 89 votes.
3 voted against it. No lawmaker abstained.
Investment and Securities Tribunal Bill which seeks to establish
the Investment and Securities Tribunal under the constitution, got 76 votes. 14
lawmakers voted against it, while 5 abstained.
The controversial Reduction of Age Qualification Bill, which was
initially rejected by lawmakers during their retreat in Lagos, got 86
favourable votes. 10 persons voted against it, while 1 abstained.
Authorisation of Expenditure Bill which seeks to provide for the
time within which the President or Governor should lay the Appropriation Bill
before the National or State House of Assembly, got 94 votes. No one voted
against it. None abstained either.
Deletion of the National Youth Service Corps Decree from the
Constitution Bill, got 88 votes. 3 lawmakers voted against it, while none
abstained.
Deletion of the Public Complaints Commission Act Bill, got 90
votes. 1 person voted against it, while 2 abstained.
Deletion of the National Securities Act from the Constitution
Bill got 92 votes. 2 lawmakers voted against it. No lawmaker abstained.
Deletion of the Land Use Act from the Constitution Bill, which
many lawmakers believe will transfer ownership of natural resources to states,
got only 46 votes. 44 senators voted against it, while none abstained.
The last item on the list, Deletion of State Independent
Electoral Commission from the Constitution Bill, got 73 votes, which is the
exact figure needed to pass an amendment. Only 1 person against it, while 2
abstained.
As soon as the House of Representatives passes alteration bills
and a conference committee meets to harmonise the differences, the document
will be sent to the 36 State Houses of Assembly for concurrence.
Twenty four Houses of Assembly, out of the 36, must concur
before the final document can be sent to the President for assent.
No comments:
Post a Comment