Constitution amendment: State assemblies back financial autonomy for state legislature

The 36 state Houses of Assembly have voted overwhelmingly for financial autonomy for state Houses of Assembly.
The state assemblies also voted in favour of the separation of the office of the attorney general of the federation/state and that of minister/commissioner of justice.
By voting in favour of independence of the legislature, the 36 Houses of Assembly are now on the first line charge of the federation account.
Although they granted approval for financial independence of the state legislature, they were, however, silent on the contentious issue of local government autonomy.
These are some of the highlights of the amendments approved by the Houses of Assembly and submitted to the National Assembly on Friday.
Samuel Ikon, chairman, Conference of Speakers of State Houses of Assembly, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues said the 36 Houses of Assembly have exceeded the required figure for financial autonomy for state legislature as well as met the required figure for separation of the office of the attorney-general of the federation from the office of the minister of justice.
Ikon’s silence on the issue of local council autonomy in the approved amendment showed that the lawmakers had technically rejected the amendment to the clause.
Sensing that local council autonomy may have been rejected, Mark said: “One of the areas which I think we ask you to approve on is the local government autonomy. I don’t know if you had the courage to do that, but if you did not pass it, no problem, it is a continuous exercise.”
The Senate president also acknowledged the speed with which the state assemblies had attended to the recommended amendments.
“I want to assure you and assure Nigerians that we in the National Assembly will also act very swiftly and we will do our own work as timely as possible.
“Many Nigerians were of the opinion that we were not going to make any amendment in the seventh Senate and in the seventh democratic dispensation.
“However, having returned it to us now, you have made our work very easy regardless of the ones that have met the constitutional requirement for amendments. It is a constitution that is binding on all of us irrespective of our position in the society, irrespective of our position in the country. So, we the operators are very important and we are key in the working of the constitution,” he stated.
Ekweremadu, who received the approved document on behalf of the NASS Constitution Amendment Committee, had earlier noted that it was a culmination of the will of the people of Nigeria.
On his part, chairman, House Ad-hoc Committee on Constitution Review and Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, expressed happiness that the Houses of Assembly concluded work on the bill in less than two months.
Recall that the National Assembly had on October 28, 2014, transmitted the Bill to the Conference of Speakers of State Legislature in accordance with Section 9 of the Constitution (as amended).