President Muhammadu Buhari has signed into law the bill that mandates the President-elect and governors-elect to submit the names of persons nominated as ministers or commissioners within 60 days of taking the oath of office for confirmation by the Senate or State House of Assembly.
The Special Assistant to the president on Digital and New Media, Tolu Ogunlesi via his Twitter page on Friday, said Buhari also assented to the State Houses of Assembly Financial and State Judiciary autonomy bills and 14 other constitutional amendment bills alongside three other bills.
He said the assessment was in furtherance of Section 58 (4) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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The highlights of the assented Constitutional Alteration Bills, among others, are ensuring financial independence of State Houses of Assembly and State Judiciary; regulating the first session, and inauguration of members-elect of the National and State Houses of Assembly and for related matters.
President Buhari also assented to the Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology Act, The Nigerian Institute of International Relations Act, and The Federal Medical Centres (Amendment) Acts bills.
The statement read, “President Buhari has signed 16 Constitution Amendment Bills into Law. By this signing, State Houses of Assembly & Judiciaries now have constitutionally-guaranteed financial independence, while Railways have moved from Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent List.
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“Another landmark change: By virtue of the Presidential Assent, Nigerian States can NOW generate, transmit and distribute electricity in areas covered by the national grid. Wasn’t allowed pre-amendment. This is genuine, realistic Restructuring ā through the Constitution.
“Prisons now known as “Correctional Services” – has also now moved from the Exclusive Legislative List, to the Concurrent List. Meaning that States now have the power to establish Correctional and Custodial facilities, and State Assemblies have the power to legislate on such.
“A couple of the Constitution Amendment Bills relate to the change of name of some Local Governments. B’cos LGAs are listed in the Constitution (I personally don’t think they should be!), you can’t alter their names or create new ones without a Constitution Amendment process.
“In Ogun State, Egbado North and Egbado South Local Government Areas are now to be known and addressed as Yewa North and Yewa South respectively. In Ebonyi, Afikpo North and Afikpo South LGAs are now to be known as Afikpo and Edda LGAs respectively.
“CA Bills originally passed by NASS included Ca one for FINANCIAL AUTONOMY for Local Governments, replacing the controversial “State Joint Local Government Account” w/ a new “Local Govt Council Allocation Account” to be credited directly. Not enough State Assemblies concurred, sadly. Etc.
“With Railways moving from Exclusive to So Concurrent, it means Rail is no longer an exclusive preserve of the Federal Govt/NASS. States will now be able to make laws regulating establishment & operation of rail services WITHIN their territory. Inter-State Rail will remain FGN responsibility.
“So apparently some of the LGAs whose names have just been changed by the constitutional amendments have been using the new names for a while, hehe. Well, it’s the old names that have been in the Constitution the entire time. The FORMAL change starts now!
“Now that the Bills have been assented to, and have become Acts of Parliament, the next step is for “gazetting” to happen – the process by which the assented Acts are published in the Official Gazette of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Here’s what a Gazetted Act looks like.”
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