Constitution Review report: Six-year single term for Presidents, Govs ABUJA —The Senate Committee on the review of the constitution has recommended a single term of six years for President and Governors because of the financial expenses often associated with re-election as well as to ensure that executive heads are freed from distractions. The report of the committee which was presented to the Senate, yesterday, also shattered the hopes of Nigerians, who desired to have more states created from the existing ones as it said none of the 61 requests for new states complied with the entire provision of Section 8(1) of the Constitution. Also, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will no longer have the powers to assent to constitutional amendment if the review of the 1999 Constitution scales through. With amendments being carried out by the Senate, if a Vice President-elect or Vice-President succeeds the President-elect or the President, he shall not be eligible to contest for the office of the President in any subsequent election. It was also recommended that the idea of having State Police must be jettisoned, as the Committee called for a total overhauling of the present Federal Police system for effective and efficient service delivery. Discussions on the report were, however, suspended as Senate President David Mark announced that it will commence when the Senators come back from two weeks break that will start on Friday. Also, according to the Committee, to engender accountability and efficient service delivery, State Houses of Assembly, State Independent Electoral Commissions, Auditor-General of the State and the Attorney-General of a State will henceforth get direct funding from the State Consolidated Revenue Fund with the coming in place of first line charge funding. The Committee which also separated the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and that of the States from the Ministries of Justice, also gave a mayoral status to the FederalCapitalTerritory in line with what obtains in other capital cities of the world. The report presented to the Senate for discussions, yesterday, by the Deputy Senate President who doubles as the Chairman of the 49-member Constitution review Committee, also rejected calls for rotational presidency and other offices on the grounds that it should be a matter of consideration among the various political parties. On the issue of assenting to alteration of constitution by the President, the Committee said: “In the light of recent experiences, the committee inserted a new provision to resolve the impasse where the President refuses to signify his assent or that he withholds such assent. In our view, this will strengthen legislature’s authority for good governance.” In the recommendation, Diaspora voting system was also rejected against the backdrop that it would be counter productive to extend the responsibilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC abroad without the requisite capacity. Source: vanguardngr
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 13:58:43 +0000
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