The Senate on Tuesday unanimously
approved the inclusion of former presidents
of the Senate and former speakers of the
House of Representatives as members of the
Council of State.
The decision of the Senate followed an
electronic voting on the report of the
committee on Constitution review which
sought to alter certain sections of the 1999
Constitution.
According to the decision of the Senate, the
council of state which usually comprises
serving and pasts presidents and heads of
state as well as the serving president and
speakers of the legislature will now include
past presidents and speakers.
All 95 Senators who were present voted in
favour of the bill.
However, only past leaders of each of the
chambers that were not impeached during
their tenure are eligible to become members
of the council.
The Senate also approved the alteration bill
seeking to reduce from six months to three
months, the period of time within which a
president can authorise withdrawal from
the confederation account before the
passage of the budget of a particular year.
The Senate for the second time also
approved financial autonomy for State
Houses of Assembly to get their funding
directly from the federation accounts rather
than rely on the state government to be
funded.
During the last Constitution review, the
National Assembly approved financial
autonomy for the states, however in a turn
of events, the State Assemblies themselves
rejected the autonomy having voted no to
financial autonomy when the matter was
brought before them as part of the process
of Constitution amendment.
The upper legislative chamber also approved
the abrogation of joint accounts for States
and Local Government and provided for
Local government to operate their special
accounts called the Local Government
Account.
The Senate also approved the alteration that
only democratically elected local government
councils will be recognised and funded from
the federation account.
Also approved was granting of immunity to
lawmakers and indemnify them from
anything they say during the course of
plenary or committee meeting.
The Senate also approved that the president
and governors should have a time frame
after taking office within which to submit
ministerial nominees or list of
commissioners in the case of the governors.
The Senate however rejected the alteration
which would have mandated states to
ensure that 20 per cent of state
commissioners appointed are women.
The Senate also approved the change of
name of the Nigerian Police Force to the
Nigeria Police to reflect their core mandate.
87 out of the 96 lawmakers present voted
yes.
The inclusion of independent candidates to
contest elections was also okayed by the
Senate as 62 senators voted in favour of the
Independent Candidature Bill.
Any person who functioned in capacity as
acting president or governor can only serve
as an elected president or governor only
once.
This implies that that once the individual is
re-elected into the office which he had
served in acting capacity, he cannot contest
an election into that same office.
If this approvals sail through the entire
process of the amendment, it means that
former President Goodluck Jonathan can no
longer contest the presidential election
having acted as president and served a
fresh 4 year term afterwards.
The Senate also approved the separation of
the Office of the Accountant General of the
Federation from the Office of the accountant
general of the Federal Government.
Following the rejection of the lawmakers, a
woman who married out of her state or
Local government of origin will not have the
choice to decide if to contest an election as
an indigene of her place of origin or her
place of marriage.
