#ReviewConstitution Series 0

Constitutional Amendment Background

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The National Assemblies (NASS) in December constituted the Ad-Hoc Committees on Constitution Review to initiate the process of amending relevant sections of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) based on the wishes and aspirations of various stakeholders and their representatives. After due consultations, the NASS Committees decided to limit their focus to the issues contained in the 4th alteration that was passed by the NASS and the State Houses of Assembly (SHoAs) but not assented by President Good luck Jonathan over some items he had reservations with. He questioned the process adopted by the NASS which he felt did not meet the requirement of section 9 (2) of the Constitution.

At the moment, both Houses have passed some of the recommendations proposed by the Committees while others were rejected. About 21 bills seeking the amendment to different sections of the Constitution have been passed and awaiting transmission to the State Houses of Assembly for their approval. For each item/clause to be successfully amended, it will require a simple majority in at least 24 out of the 36 state Houses of Assembly. While the SHoA has the constitutional mandate to vote on the amendments, it is expected that the SHoAs will consult with their various constituents before casting their votes. These bills have been clustered and explained in subsequent series. They target:

• Strengthening Local Governments
• Bill No. 4: Distributable Pool Account
• Bill No. 5: Local Government Funding and Administration
• Strengthening Governance Institutions
• Bill No. 3: Financial Autonomy of State Legislatures
• Bill No. 6: Immunity for Legislators for Acts in the Course of Duty
• Bill No. 8: Presidential assent on Bills
• Bill No. 1: Members of the Council of States
• Strengthening the Electoral System
• Bill No. 20: Reduction of Age for Election. Awareness around this is being championed by various stakeholders as #nottooyoungtorun
• Bill No. 7: Conduct of Bye-Elections and Power to De-register Political Parties
• Bill No. 16: Determination of Pre-Election matters
• Bill No. 10: Independent Candidacy
• Strengthening Key Accountability Institutions
• Bill No. 13: Separation of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation with that of the Accountant-General of the Federal Government
• Bill No. 14: First Line Charge for the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation and States
• Enhancing Budget and Governance Processes
• Bill No. 2: Authorization of Expenditure before Budget Passage
• Bill No. 9: Timeframe for Submission of Names of Ministerial and Commissioner Nominees with their Portfolios
• Bill No. 12: Restriction of the Tenure of the President and Governor
• Bill No. 18: Procedure of Overriding Presidential Veto in Constitutional Amendment
• Bill No. 21: Authorization of Expenditure Time Frame for Laying Appropriation Bill
• Strengthening the Judicial System
• Bill No. 15: Judiciary Bill to Further Strengthen the Judiciary for Speedy Dispensation of Justice
• Bill No. 19: Investment and Securities Tribunal
• Internal Security
• Bill No. 11: Nigerian Police Force Name Change
• Bill No. 17: Consequential Amendment on Civil Defense

Remaining Stages in the Constitutional Amendment:

• Transmission by the NASS to the SHoA
• Consideration and approval by all the SHoA
• Returns to the NASS by SHoA
• Review and preparation of clean copy of the bills (only those approved by at least 24 SHoA)
• Transmission to the President for Assent
• President’s assent or veto on any of the bills
• Review and consideration of any observations by the President and possibly over-ride his veto (if any)

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