The House of Representatives on Wednesday directed the transmission of 35 of the 44 constitution amendment bills to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.
The National Assembly had, in March 2022, transmitted 44 Constitution Review Bills to the 36 state houses of assembly for further legislative work.
The lawmakers at plenary directed the Clerk to the National Assembly to transmit the 35 bills that have so far met the requirement of Section 9(2) of the Constitution for presidential assent.
The 35 bills have been considered by 27 state houses of assembly and approved by at least 24 state assemblies, as required by law.
The 27 houses of assembly that forwarded their resolutions on the bills are Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Rivers and Yobe.
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The state assemblies, however, failed to vote on the two bills seeking financial and legislative autonomy for local governments.
The House also urged Gombe, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, and Zamfara assemblies, which have yet to forward their resolutions on the bills, to do so.
Daily Trust reports that the resolution to transmit the 35 bills followed the deliberation on a motion sponsored by the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Idris Wase, and 70 other lawmakers.
The motion was moved by the chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business, Abubakar Fulata.
High legislative turnover too expensive for Nigeria’s democracy – Lawan
Meanwhile, Senate President Ahmad Lawan has urged the electorate to vote for experienced lawmakers with institutional memory of the federal legislature.
He said the high legislative turnover being witnessed in the federal parliament at every election circle was too expensive for Nigeria’s democracy.
Lawan made the remark before the Senate adjourned plenary yesterday.
Legislative activities at the federal parliament were suspended to February 28 to enable the lawmakers to participate in the campaigns for national election, slated for February 25.
Many members of the Ninth Senate would not be returning to the parliament. While some chose to contest other positions, the majority of them suffered defeat during party primaries. The Senate president also lost both presidential and senatorial tickets.
Lawan said, “It is our prayer and hope that, those of us who are going to participate in the National Assembly election, God Almighty would be on our side. This is because we need to have those who would provide institutional memory to be around.”
By Itodo Daniel Sule & Abdullateef Salau
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