As the National Assembly has transmitted 35 Constitution amendment bills to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent. Delta, Edo, Abia, Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross-River, and Ebonyi states were among the States that opposed to proposed LG autonomy for Local governments in Nigeria.
During the presentation of his report, Presenting the report, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele identified the above States amongst others as those made their positions known strongly opposing autonomy for LGs. After the presentation, the Senate on Tuesday, January 24, directed the Clerk of the National Assembly to transmit the amendment bills that met the requirement for assent as provided in Section 9(2) of the 1999 Constitution.
According to the Senate, the concerned bills have been approved by at least 24 state assemblies as required by law. A total of 44 amendment bills were considered but 35 met the requirement.
The state assemblies did not vote on the alteration of the Constitution and as a result, the two bills that seek to grant financial and legislative autonomy to local governments did not meet the requirement for being assented into law.
According Senator Opeyemi Bamidele others who also opposed autonomy for LGs are Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Rivers and Yobe.
The Senate also asked nine state assemblies yet to submit their resolutions on the bills to do so.
The states yet to forward their resolutions are Gombe, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba and Zamfara.
Here is a complete list of the bills considered by the 27 states.
1. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No 3 (Change of Names of Afikpo North and Afikpo South Local Government Areas (Ebonyi State)
2. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No 4 (Change of Name of Kunchi Local Government Area (Kano State)
3. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No 5 (Change of Names of Egbado North and Egbado South Local Government Areas (Ogun State)
4. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No 7 (Correction of the name of Atigbo Local Government Area (Oyo State)
5. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No 8 (Correction of Name of Obia/Akpor Local Government Area (Rivers State)
6. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No 9 (Financial autonomy of State legislatures and State Judiciary)
7. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 10 (Enforcement of Legislative Summon)
8. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 11 (Inauguration of Members-Elect)
9. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 21 (Deletion of reference in the Constitution to the provisions of the Criminal Code, Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Act, Criminal Procedure Code or Evidence Act)
10. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 22 (Provision for Intervening Events in the Computation of Tine for the Determination of Pre-Election Petitions, Election Petitions and Appeals therefrom)
11. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 24 (Expansion of the Interpretation of Judicial Office)
12, Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 25 (Appointment of Secretary of the National Judicial Council)
13. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 29 (Devolution of Powers (Airports))
14. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 30 (Devolution of Powers (Fingerprints, identification and criminal records)
15. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 31 (Devolution of Powers (Correctional Services)
16. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 32 (Devolution of Powers (Railways)
17. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 33 (Devolution of Powers (National Grid System)
18. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 39 (Power to enforce compliance of remittance of Accruals into the Federation Account and Review of Revenue Allocation Formula)
19. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 40 (Independence of Certain bodies)
20. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 41 (Removal of Transitional Law-making Powers of the Executive
21. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 43 (Domestication of Treaties)
22 . Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 44 (Timeline for the Presentation of Appropriation Bills)
23. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 45 (Timeframe for the Submission of the Names of Ministerial or Commissioner Nominees)
24. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 48 (Power to summon the President and Governors)
25. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 49 (Authorization of Expenditure)
26. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 50 (Replacement of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation with the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government)
27. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 51 (Creation of the Office of Accountant-General of the Federal Government)
28. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 53 (Separation of the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and the State from the office of the Minister or Commissioner for Justice)
29. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 54 (State of the Nation and State of the State Address)
30. Bill No. 55 (Composition of Members of the Council of State)
31. Bill No. 57 (Restriction on Formation of Political Parties)
32. Bill No. 62 (Correction in the Definition of the Boundary of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja)
33. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 63 (Fundamental Human Rights)
34. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 65 (Food Security)
35. Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bill No. 66 (Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps)
