How Lagos, Rivers, Borno, others voted against LG autonomy

The Houses of Assembly in Benue, Borno, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Kaduna, Lagos, Ondo, Rivers, Yobe and Imo states voted against financial autonomy for the 774 local governments in the federation in the ongoing amendments to the 1999 Constitution, Sunday PUNCH can authoritatively report.

So far, 27 state Houses of Assembly have voted on the 44 Constitution amendment bills passed and transmitted to the 36 states by the National Assembly.

Those who have yet to vote and forward the amendment bills to the National Assembly as of Thursday were Gombe, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba and Zamfara.

The Senate and the House had last week approved transmission of bills seeking to amend various parts of the 1999 Constitution, which had been passed by the state Houses of Assembly to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), for assent.

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At least 35 of the 44 bills were passed by the Assemblies in concurrence with the National Assembly.

To amend a clause in the Constitution (two-third or four-fifth) majority of each of the Senate and the House has to approve the amendment after which it will be transmitted to the state Houses of Assembly, where two-third or 24 of the 36 of them have to concur.

Records of the votes by the state legislatures, which our correspondent obtained on Saturday, showed that the 11 states rejected financial autonomy for the LGs. They are Benue, Borno, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Kaduna, Lagos, Ondo, Rivers, Yobe and Imo.

Fifteen states voted for the proposal, namely Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Cross-River, Delta, Edo, Enugu, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun and Osun.

Adamawa, Bayelsa abstained

 Similarly, 12 of the 36 states of the federation opposed administrative autonomy for LGs. They are Benue, Borno, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Kano, Lagos, Niger, Ondo, Rivers, Yobe and Imo.

However, 14 states – Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Cross-River, Delta, Edo, Enugu, Kaduna, Katsina, Kogi, Nasarawa, Ogun and Osun – passed the bill.

Another bill that failed to pass is proposing a uniform retirement age for judicial officers and pension rights.

The legislation is titled ‘A Bill for An Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Ensure Uniformity in the Retirement Age and Pension Rights of Judicial Officers of Superior Courts of Record: and for Related Matters.’

Twenty-three states – Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross-River, Delta, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Yobe and Imo voted for it; Ebonyi, Niger and Rivers voted against it; and Adamawa abstained from it.

Meanwhile, financial autonomy for state legislatures and state judiciary scaled through, as 26 states, namely Abia, Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross-River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Rivers and Yobe passed the bill.

The legislation is titled ‘A Bill for An Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Provide for the Financial Independence of State Houses of Assembly and State Judiciary; and for Related Matters.’

Ironically, the Imo State House of Assembly is the only state legislature that voted against financial autonomy for state judiciary and legislature.

Those who abstained from the bill are Gombe, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba and Zamfara.