Constitution Amendment: Senate Rejects More Powers For States
Proposals for restructuring of the country took a negative turn Wednesday after the Senate rejected moves to decongest the Exclusive Legislative List and in favour of the Concurrent List in line with agitation for devolution of powers to the states.
Ancillary to that was also the Senate’s rejection of moves to remove the Land Use Act from the 1999 Constitution.
It was also a bad day for promoters of women causes as the Senate rejected proposals to give constitutional backing for 35% affirmative action for women and also proposal to give constitutional guarantees to allow a married woman to use either her indigeneship by birth or by marriage in taking up appointments or seeking elective office.
The Senate nevertheless approved several alterations, including proposals to grant autonomy to local governments through the abrogation of joint state/local government accounts, and proposals to deny recognition including funding for un-elected local government administrators.
The Senate also gave constitutional backing to allow for savings from the federation account.
Of the 32 bills presented, the Senate outrightly rejected four bills dealing with the devolution of powers, freedom for women to choose states from which they take appointments or contest election and also deletion of the Land Use Act.
