House Bars Electoral Offenders from Public Office, Grants LGs Autonomy National Assembly, Abuja •Scraps immunity on criminal matters •Rules out creation of states CONSTITUTION REVIEW By Onwuka Nzeshi The House of Representatives Thursday unveiled the report of its Special Ad hoc Committee on Constitution Review, in which it proposed the establishment of an Electoral Offences Commission and barred persons convicted of an electoral offence from holding public office. The report said such convicted persons would be disqualified from contesting future elections to give seriousness to the issue of electoral offences in Nigeria. The report also recommended full autonomy for the local government areas, recognising them as the third tier of government having elected administrations with a fixed term of four years. Similarly, the report made provisions for independent candidacy in elections in Nigeria. This would however be subject to conditions stipulated under the Electoral Act. It was however a sad day for ethnic nationalities and pressure groups angling to have new states created for them out of their present states. The committee said though it received more than 35 requests for new states, none of the requests complied with the procedure for creation of states outlined in Section eight (8) of the constitution. Deputy Speaker of the House and Chairman, Special Ad hoc Committee on Constitution Review, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, who laid the report at plenary Thursday, said the committee was unable to treat any of the requests for new states. The committee, Ihedioha disclosed, observed that the existing provisions in the constitution for the creation of new states are ambiguous and cumbersome, adding that it had recommended amendments to make the process more coherent and less problematic. Ihedioha said the entire report was a reflection of Members’ Bills referred to the committee after the second reading and results of the Peoples’ Public Sessions on the Review of the Constitution. He disclosed that in considering the local government system, the committee followed the recommendation of the Peoples Public Sessions which clearly underscored the need to create independence and autonomy for local government councils and give the councils their deserved role as catalysts for development at the grassroots level. Accordingly, the committee created a fixed uniform term of four years for local government councils and prescribed denial of appropriation to councils that do not have democratically elected officials. The report also prescribed the mode of election for local government officials, their functions, tenure, qualifications for elections, and other related matters. Under the proposed amendment, elections into local government councils will be managed by the national election management body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). This is also predicated on the recommendation that the State Electoral Commissions should be scrapped. “The committee has proposed alterations to Section 162 of the constitution to abrogate State Joint Local Government Accounts and empower each local government to maintain its own special account to be called ‘Local Government Council Allocation Account’ into which shall be paid directly allocations made to the local government by the federal government from the Federation Account and from the government of the state. “The committee felt that it was important to protect the integrity of the electoral process at the local government level and respond to the complaints of partisanship of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIEC). “Accordingly, it deleted the existence of SIECs and vested the power to conduct local government councils across the federation on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),” Ihedioha said. In line with the results from the Peoples’ Public Sessions, Ihedioha explained, the committee has proposed amendments to Section 308 of the constitution, removing the immunity from prosecution for criminal offences for persons occupying the position of president, vice-president, governor and deputy governor, and to stem impunity levels. “The committee has also removed ambiguities in language with respect to the alteration of the constitution and has dispensed with the requirement for assent of the president to be obtained for the amendment of the constitution. “The committee held that the rigorous provisions for the alteration of the constitution by members of the National Assembly and the participation of the 36 state Houses of Assembly represented such adequate participation of Nigerians and that assent of the president negated the principle contained therein. “The committee has also altered the provisions relating to Nigeria’s international treaty obligations, to provide for National Assembly’s ratification and enactment. “In order to address the various conflicts and crises surrounding the question of who is an indigene or settler in a given community in Nigeria, the committee has redefined citizenship to take away this divide meaning that a person who has lived in a community for a specified period is entitled to the same rights and privileges as citizens of that community,” the deputy speaker said. The report did not however specify the number of years someone would live in a place to acquire indigeneship status of the community. The committee also altered Section 42 of the constitution to specifically prohibit discrimination against persons living with disability. Similarly, the report has proposed that certain socio- economic rights captured as fundamental principles of state policy be incorporated into Chapter IV, the justiciable part of the constitution. By implication, the rights to education, right to favourable environment, right to free primary and maternal health care services, and the right to basic housing would now become justiciable. In order to entrench the independence of the offices of the Attorney General of the Federation, the Accountant- General of the Federation and the Auditor-General of the Federation, and insulate them from political control, the report accorded the offices a first line charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation. In addition, the report recommended the separation of the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation from the Office of the Minister of Justice. “This would not only insulate the office of the Attorney- General of the Federation from partisanship, but would ensure that it is managed by a professional lawyer at both the federal and state levels,” the report stated. A new section has also been proposed in the constitution creating a new office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and Accountant-General of the Federal Government to ensure that persons are appointed into these two separate offices for professional management of public resources. The report has also strengthened the provisions of Section 80 of the constitution to plug leakages from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation and public funds of Nigeria to ensure that no expenditure is made by any organ of government without appropriation by the legislature. Speaker of the House, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, said having received the report, the House would soon schedule a number of days for its consideration. Tambuwal charged the House Committee on Rules and Business to produce and circulate copies of the report to all members to ensure that the consolidated Constitution Amendment Bill is debated and passed before the lawmakers embark on their long vacation.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 08:43:19 +0000