The National Assembly yesterday proceeded on a two-week recess for the country’s 54th Independence anniversary and Eid-el-Kabir celebration.
The House had earlier passed 77 new clauses to the constitution, while the Senate passed its recommendations as well.
Among the highlights of the recommendations passed by the House, were the removal of immunity (against criminal prosecution) for the President and Governors, the rejection of State Police and the approval of independent candidature during elections.
It also approved to split the offices of the Minister of Justice and the Attorney-General of the Federation, while the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation was placed on First Line Charge of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.
However, the Senate and the House disagreed on granting financial autonomy to local government councils.
While the House endorsed autonomy for the councils by scrapping the controversial local government/state joint account, the Senate rejected autonomy for the councils.
Under Section 9 of the constitution, two-thirds of all members of each arm of the National Assembly will mandatorily vote to endorse a proposal before it can pass as an amendment to the constitution.
This implies that 240 of the 360 members of the House of Representatives must endorse every proposal before it can be included in the new constitution.
Similarly, 73 of 109 Senators must vote to endorse all new proposals to the constitution. In addition, two-thirds (24) out of the 36 state Houses of Assembly must also approve the amendments passed by the National Assembly as the final phase of the amendment process.
Meanwhile, the House yesterday approved the power of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to request security personnel, including the armed forces, for election purposes. The proposal was contained in the fresh amendments to the Electoral Act, 2010.
Members began the consideration of the report in a bill to amend the Act yesterday, passing the controversial power it conferred on INEC as the sole authority to request the deployment of security personnel whenever it deemed fit.
The amendment passed after a heated argument between Peoples Democratic Party, PDP members and their All Progressives Congress, APC colleagues in the Lower Chamber.
Source: Nigerian Pilot
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