‘Right to free basic education, national grid devolution’ — inside the 35 constitution amendment bills

The bill seeks to change the names of Afikpo north and Afikpo south LGAs to “Afikpo” and “Edda” LGAs, respectively.

The bill seeks to change the name of Kunchi LGA to “Ghari”.

The bill seeks to change the names of Egbado north and Egbado south LGAs to “Yewa north” and “Yewa south” LGAs, respectively.

The bill seeks to correct Atigbo LGA to “Atisbo”.

The bill seeks to correct Obia/Akpor LGA to “Obio/Akpor”.

This bill seeks to provide the framework for the implementation of the financial autonomy already granted by earlier alterations of the constitution for state houses of assemblies and state judiciaries, by the creation of a disbursement committee to superintend the release of appropriated sums to the legislative and judicial arms.

It seeks to strengthen the power of the legislature to deal with failure, refusal, or neglect to attend a legislative summons by making it an offence punishable on conviction, by a court of law, in accordance with an Act of the national assembly.

This bill seeks to provide for two-third majority of members-elect as the quorum of members-elect required for the first and inaugural session of members-elect of the national and state houses of assembly.

The bill seeks to delete the reference to the provisions of the Criminal Code, Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Act, Criminal Procedure Code and Evidence Act in the Constitution.

This bill seeks to alter the provisions of the constitution to exclude the period of intervening events, like disasters and force majeure in the computation of time for determining pre-election petitions, election petitions and appeals therefrom.

The alteration here seeks to expand the interpretation of judicial office to include courts or tribunals created by an Act of the national assembly or a state house of assembly.

The bill seeks to provide a minimum post-call qualification of 10 years for the secretary of the National Judicial Council.

This bill seeks to move the item “airports” from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislative list.

The intent of this and other bills under the heading “devolution of powers” is to decongest the exclusive legislative list by moving those items to the concurrent legislative list, thereby giving more legislative powers to the state. This is aimed at strengthening federalism and ensuring that governance responsibilities are efficiently allocated to the level of government best able to manage them, and expanding the revenue base of sub-national governments.

This bill seeks to move the item “fingerprints, identification and criminal records” from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislative list.

This bill seeks to delete the item “prisons” from the exclusive legislative list and redesignate it as “correctional services” in the concurrent legislative list.

The bill seeks to move the item “railways” from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislative list.

This bill seeks to delete after the word, “areas”, the words, “not covered by a national grid system” in the concurrent legislative list. This will allow states to generate, transmit and distribute electricity in areas covered by the national grid within their respective domains.

The bill seeks to empower the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation, and Fiscal Commission to enforce compliance with the remittance of accruals into and disbursement of revenue from the federation account,  and streamline the procedure for reviewing the revenue allocation formula.

The amendment in this bill seeks to alter the constitution to enhance the independence of certain regulatory and oversight institutions created by the constitution. This is to help improve the quality of governance, strengthen the rule of law, encourage transparency and accountability, prevent corruption, and ultimately reinforce both the quality and the resilience of democracy.

This bill seeks to remove transitional law-making powers from the executive arm of government.

The bill seeks to alter the constitution to specify the time within which the executive shall present to the national assembly any treaty between the federation and any other country for enactment.

This bill seeks to provide a timeframe within which the president or a governor shall lay the appropriation bill before the national assembly or house of assembly, and the period within which the national assembly or house of assembly shall pass the appropriation bill. The intent of this bill is to entrench a January-to-December budget year in the constitution which will make state and national budgets more predictable.

The bill seeks to alter the provisions of the constitution to provide a timeframe within which the president or a governor shall forward to the senate or state house of assembly names of nominees for confirmation as ministers or commissioners.

This bill seeks to alter the provisions of the constitution to grant the two chambers of the national assembly and state houses of assembly powers to summon the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and governors of states, respectively, to answer questions on issues of national security or any matter whatsoever, over which the national assembly and state houses of assembly have powers to make laws.

The bill seeks to alter the provisions of the constitution to reduce the period within which the president or a governor may authorise the withdrawal of monies from the consolidated revenue fund in the absence of an Appropriation Act, from six months to three months.

The bill seeks to alter the constitution to replace the consolidated revenue fund of the federation with the consolidated revenue fund of the federal government in sections 80, 81, 82, and 83 of the constitution.

This bill seeks to establish the office of the accountant-general of the federal government distinct from the office of the accountant-general of the federation. The proposed alteration is aimed at ensuring ease of administration by enabling the federal government to have its own accounting officer separate from the accounting officer that deals with the other tiers of government.

This bill seeks to establish the office of the attorney-general of the federation and of the state separate from the office of the minister of justice, or commissioner for justice in order to make the office of the attorney-general independent and insulated from partisanship.

The bill seeks to alter the provisions of the constitution to provide for a state of the nation and state of the state address by the president and governor, respectively.

The bill seeks to alter the constitution to include former presidents of the senate and former speakers of the house of representatives as members of the council of state. This is to ensure that the three arms of government are fairly represented in the council.

This bill seeks to enhance existing provisions on the formation of political parties to ensure their national orientation, viability, and sustainability.

This bill seeks to alter the provisions of the constitution to correct the error in the definition of the boundary of the federal capital territory, Abuja, by substituting Nasarawa state for Plateau state.

This bill seeks to alter the provisions of the constitution to make free, compulsory, and basic education a fundamental right of all citizens under chapter IV of the constitution.

The bill seeks to alter the provisions of the constitution to require the government to direct its policy towards ensuring food security in Nigeria.

This bill seeks to entrench the establishment and core functions of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in the constitution.