Regional fractures emerge as Land Use Act, LG autonomy set for debate

The planned constitution amendment debate, expected to commence Wednesday may face a major setback, if plans by northern senators to halt the process succeed.

It was gathered senators of northern extraction, led by Danjuma Goje and Adamu Aliero, are championing the plot against certain aspects of the amendment, which they have termed to be against the interest of the region.

The two major issues at the centre of the controversy, are plans to abolish the Land Use Act and Joint Account between local and state governments.
Already, southern senators have held a meeting, where it was agreed that every member must be present throughout the duration of the constitution review exercise.

Some senators, were also commissioned during the meeting held last weekend in Abuja to meet with their counterparts from North Central states and some states from the core north who are favourably disposed to restructuring.

The clause by clause consideration of the 27 Alteration Bills, will commence Wednesday. It will be concluded on Thursday, before the two chambers of the National Assembly will embark on their six-week annual break.

Findings revealed that northern senators are opposed to the deletion of the Land Use Act from the constitution because exercise of control over ownership of lands will be transferred to state governments.

They are worried that the Federal Government will be stripped of its powers to exercise control over resources domiciled in lands in some states of the federation, especially in the oil-producing states of Niger Delta.

The controversial proposal tagged Deletion of the Land Use Act from the Constitution bill, seeks to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to delete the Land Use Act from the Constitution so that it can be subject to the regular process of amendment.

A pointer to what to expect during the consideration and passage of the amendments, came up yesterday on the floor, when lawmakers considered the general principles of the alteration bills.

In their separate contributions, Goje and Aliero, vehemently opposed the planned deletion of the Land Use Act. They proposed that the status quo be maintained since the issue was controversial.
Ironically, Goje is a member of the constitution review committee and he signed the final document of the draft which was submitted to the Senate for consideration.

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On the issue of abolition of joint account between local and state governments, Goje and Aliero, said there was no need to tamper with the current structure.
Instead, they proposed that more time was needed by lawmakers to enable them interface with their constituents on what they called controversial issues, before the amendments are passed.

Their suggestions were however rejected when the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, put the issue to a voice vote. Senators, predominantly from the south and some parts of Northern Central, voted ‘yes’.
Meanwhile, lawmakers are expected to consider and pass twenty seven amendments during the week.

The amendments are Composition of Members of the Council of State. This bill seeks to amend the Third Schedule to include former Presidents of the Senate and Speakers of the House of Representatives in the composition of the Council of State.

Authorisation of Expenditure will also be considered. This bill seeks to alter sections 82 and 122 of the Constitution to reduce the period within which the President or Governor of a state may authorise the withdrawal of monies from the consolidated revenue fund in the absence of an appropriation act from 6 months to 3 months.

Devolution of Powers will equally be debated. It seeks to alter the Second Schedule, Part I & II to move certain items to the Concurrent Legislative List to give more legislative powers to States. It also delineates the extent to which the federal legislature and state assemblies can legislate on the items that have been moved to the Concurrent Legislative List.

Others bills are Financial Autonomy of State Legislatures, Distributable Pool Account, Local Government, State Creation and Boundary Adjustment, The Legislature and Political Parties and Electoral Matters.

The Senate will also consider and pass Political Parties and Electoral Matters, Presidential Assent, Timeframe for submitting the Names Ministerial or Commissioners Nominees, Appointment of Minister from the FCT, Change of Names of some Local Government Councils, Independent Candidature, The Police and Restriction of Tenure of the President and Governor bills.

Separation of the Office of Accountant-General, Office of the Auditor-General, Separation of the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and of the State from the office of the Minister or Commissioner for Justice, Judiciary, Determination of Pre-Election Matters and Civil Defence bills too are also expected to be debated and passed by the Red Chamber.

Similarly, Citizenship and Indigeneship, Procedure for overriding Presidential veto in Constitutional Alteration, Removal of certain Acts from the Constitution, Investments and Securities Tribunal, Reduction of Age Qualification, Authorisation of Expenditure 1, Deletion of the NYSC Decree from the Constitution, Deletion of the Public Complaints Commission Act from the Constitution, Deletion of the National Securities Act from the Constitution and Deletion of the Land Use Act from the Constitution bills are also listed.

The constitution review committee, introduced something. Unlike previous exercises, where everything was lumped together, every amendment is coming as a bill.

According to the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, this new approach was adopted to avoid the mistakes made by the 7th National Assembly Constitution Review Committee.

 

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