According to Punch, President Bola Tinubu will receive a bill proposing a return to Nigeria’s regional administration system next week.
Last Monday, the House of Representatives rejected the draft measure that had spread widely on the internet.
The bill proposes, among other things, that new existing legislation be cited as “The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria New Governance Model for Nigeria Act 2024.”
The bill’s preamble reads in part, “Whereas Nigeria, its people, and government have been governed under Decree 24 of 1999, which was issued by the then-military government without the express consent of the people, despite the preamble ‘We, the people.'”
“Whereas the said Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) is not autochthonous as it does not evolve from the deliberations and consensus of the Nigerian People; whereas the peoples of Nigeria now desire and effectively demand for a change to a constitution based on federal/regional system of government.
“Whereas the federal and regional governments are to operate within the provisions of this Constitution, it is within the discretion of the ethnic blocs within the states that constitutes a given region to aggregate or disaggregate as provinces, divisions and districts, while being in control of their affairs without let or hindrance at whatever level of governance.”
Following inquiries, the House disowned the bill as the duo of the House spokesman, Akin Rotimi, and the Chairman, Rules, and Business, Francis Waive, said the proposed legislation was not before the committee for deliberation.
