Constitutional amendment: 20 states reject LG autonomy

Twenty states of the federation have rejected autonomy for local governments in Fourth amendment of the 1999 constitution (as amended).

Submitting the report of the Committee on the 1999 Constitution on Wednesday, chairman of the Committee and Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu said 20 states voted against local government autonomy while 16 states voted in support.

The 20 states that voted against autonomy include: Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Enugu, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kwara, Lagos, Ondo, Osun, Rivers, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.

States in support of autonomy are Adamawa, Anambra, Abia, Bauchi, Benue, Edo, Gombe, Imo, Kebbi, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau and Sokoto states.

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The proposed amendments which was rejected indicated that “a local government council not democratically elected shall not be recognised by all authorities and persons and shall not be entitled to any revenue allocation from the Federation Account or the state government nor exercise any function exercisable by a local government council under this constitution or any law for the time being in force; and “Shall stand dissolved at the expiration of a period of four years, commencing from the date the members of the council were sworn in.”

The National Assembly made provision for independent candidates in elections. The extant electoral law stipulates that candidates for elections must be sponsored by political parties.

Section 177 has been altered, by inserting a new paragraph “(d) he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that party or he is an independent candidate.”