The Katsina and Bauchi state Houses of Assembly voted against the devolution of powers from the Federal Government to the states in the ongoing amendments to the 1999 Constitution, The PUNCH reports.
At least five bills are seeking to move items from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent List in the Constitution.
They are power, railway, airports and prisons as well as biometric and criminal records.
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 on 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 the 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.
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-thirds 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-thirds 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 Bauchi and Katsina voted against ‘Devolution of Powers (Airports).’
The legislation titled ‘A Bill for An Act to alter the Provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Move Airports from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List; and for Related Matters.’
However, 25 states, namely Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross-River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, Kogi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Rivers. Yobe and Imo voted for it.
Also, Bauchi was the only state that opposed ‘Devolution of Powers (Fingerprints, identification and criminal records), while 26 others – Abia, Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross-River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Rivers, Yobe and Imo – supported it.
In the case of ‘Devolution of Powers (Correctional Services),’ Katsina was the only state against it, while 26 others, namely Abia, Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross-River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, Kogi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Rivers. Yobe and Imo gave it their nods.
The legislation was titled ‘A Bill for An Act to alter the Provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Delete Prisons in the Exclusive Legislative List and Redesignate It as Correctional Services in the Concurrent Legislative List; and for Related Matters.’
For ‘Devolution of Powers (Railways),’ Bauchi was also the only state that rejected it.
However, 26 states supported it. They were Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross-River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Rivers, Yobe and Imo.
For ‘Devolution of Powers (National Grid System),’ all the 27 Houses of Assembly that have so far transmitted their votes to the National Assembly want the states to have control over electric power.
