By John Ikani
President Bola Tinubu is scheduled to receive a proposal next week advocating for a shift to a regional governance system in Nigeria.
Despite the House of Representatives recently dismissing the bill when a draft version circulated online, local news medium – BusinessDay reports that the proposal is moving forward.
The bill, titled ‘A Bill for an Act to Substitute the Annexure to Decree 24 of 1999 with a new governance model for the Federal Republic of Nigeria,’ aims to establish new laws called “The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria New Governance Model for Nigeria Act 2024.”
According to the bill’s introduction, Nigeria has been operating under Decree 24 of 1999, a decree implemented by a military government without public approval.
The proposal highlights that the current constitution does not reflect the consensus of the Nigerian populace, stressing the need for a constitution based on a federal/regional system.
The bill proposes that both federal and regional governments would function under this new constitution, allowing ethnic groups within states to form provinces, divisions, and districts, enabling them to manage their own affairs.
“Whereas Nigeria, its peoples and government have been governed under Decree 24 of 1999 that was handed down by the then military government without the express consent of the people despite the preamble of ‘We, the people.’,” the preliminaries of the bill read.
“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.
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“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.”
The House of Representatives has clarified that the bill is not under committee review, according to House spokesman Akin Rotimi and chairman of Rules and Business, Francis Waive.
Akin Fapohunda, the bill’s author, had previously announced plans to engage with National Assembly members before presenting the bill to parliament. On Friday, he stated that he will submit the proposed legislation to President Tinubu for presentation to the parliament as an executive bill.
