JUST IN: Buhari Sets Up Committee On States' Legislature, Judiciary Autonomy

President Muhammadu Buhari has constituted an implementation committee on Autonomy of state legislature and state judiciary.

Femi Adesina, spokesman to the president disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, 9th December 2018.

He said the committee would drive the actualization of the autonomy granted to the legislature and judiciary at the state level.

According to the report, the committee would be chaired by Abubakar Malami, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, and has representatives of state judiciary, such as N Ajanah, chief judge of Kogi state, and K Abiri, chief judge of Bayelsa state.

Other members are Khadi Abdullahi Maikano Usman, Grand Khadi, Gombe state sharia court of appeal, and Abbazih Musa Sadeeq, acting president of the FCT customary court of appeal.

Also represented on the committee are speakers of state houses of Assembly, and the Nigerian Bar Association, among others.

Adesina said the committee will monitor and ensure the implementation of financial autonomy across the judiciary and legislature of the 36 states.

The presidential aide said the committee would be inaugurated in due course.

BREAKING: Again, Buhari Declines Assent to Amended Electoral Act Bill

President Muhammadu Buhari has once again formally declined assent to the Electoral Act Bill as was newly amended by the National Assembly (NASS).

In a letter to both chambers of the NASS, President Buhari said passing a new bill with elections close by could ‘create some uncertainty about the legislation to govern the process.’

He also highlighted some parts of the bill that he said need legislative action.

Many politicians, including leaders of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had called on the president to assent to the bill.

A hint to President Buhari’s decision to withhold assent to the bill was first given by his aide on NASS Matters (Senate), Sen. Ita Enang, who said earlier on Friday, 7th December 2018 that the president had sent the bill back to parliament.

The president had declined assent to the bill in previous times, citing “drafting issues.”

Senate Leader Ahmed Lawan last week said Mr Buhari should take time to study the bill and take a decision he is comfortable with.

It would be recalled that President Buhari had first in March this year withheld assent to the bill with reasons that the proposed law would usurp the constitutional powers of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to decide on election matters, including fixing dates and election order.

However, after a second communication from the NASS, the president again in September, 2018 declined to assent to the bill.

The letter stated among other reasons the legislative encumbrance such new act may pose for the 2019 elections which are a little over two months away.

Such encumbrance Buhari said may create room for ‘disruption’ and ‘confusion’ during the 2019 elections.

“Pursuant to section 58 (4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, I hereby convey to the House of Representatives my decision on 6th December 2018 to decline presidential assent to the Electoral (Amendment) Bill, 2018 recently passed by the National Assembly.

“I am declining assent to the Bill principally because I am concerned that passing a new electoral bill this far into the electoral process for the 2018 general elections which commenced under the 2015 Electoral Act, could create some uncertainty about the applicable legislation to govern the process. Any real or apparent change to the rules this close to the elections may provide an opportunity for disruption and confusion in respect of which law governs the electoral process.”

President Buhari was referring to 2019 General Elections just about 72 days away.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed presidential and National Assembly elections for February 16, 2019, while governorship and state assembly elections will hold two weeks after on March 2.

Noting that his decision was taken ‘in the best interest of the country and our democracy,’ President Buhari wants the National Assembly to ‘specifically state in the Bill that the Electoral Act will come into effect commencing after the 2019 General Elections.’

Asides election concerns, President Buhari also noted some legislative amendments the bill requires.

“It is also important for the following drafting amendments to be made to the Bill:

a. Section 5 of the Bill, amending section 18 of the Principal Act should indicate the subsection to which the substitution of figure “30” for figure “60” is to be effected.

b. Section 11 of the Bill, amending Section 36 should indicate the subsection in which proviso (provision) is to be introduced.

c. Section 24 of the Bill which amends Section 85 (1) should be drafted in full as the introduction of “electing” to the sentence may be interpreted to mean that political parties may give 21 days’ notice of the intention to merge as opposed to the 90 days provided in Section 84 (2) of the Electoral Act which provides the provision for merger of political parties.

d. The definition of the term “Ward Collection Officer” should be revised to reflect a more descriptive definition than the capitalized and undefined term “Registration Area Collation Officer”

The latest decline makes it the third time Mr Buhari withheld his assent to the electoral bill.

Prior to the decline, opposition and critics of the government have accused him of withholding his assent due to his fear of legalising the use of card readers for elections

INEC has been using the card reader for recent elections but the machine is yet to be incorporated into the country’s electoral law.

It's noteworthy that the NASS is yet to react to this latest development.

BREAKING: ASUP Commences Indefinite Strike December 12

AS the industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of Nigeria lingers, her polytechnic counterpart, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) says it would be commencing its own indefinite strike from December 12, 2018.

The National President of ASUP, Usman Dutse disclosed this on Wednesday, 5th December 2018, explaining that the decision was informed by the failure of the Federal Government (FG) to meet the demands of the polytechnic lecturers.

Mr. Dutse said the resolution to commence the strike was reached at the union’s 93rd National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos last week.

He noted that the 21-day ultimatum issued by the union on October 2, has since elapsed and an extension of the ultimatum to November has also elapsed, yet the union did not go on industrial action. It suffices to say that the union has been pushed to the wall.

“Government has failed to implement and fulfill agreements it reached with the union as contained in the memorandum of understanding signed,” Mr. Dutse lamented.

Among other things, Dutse said that “the issue of the funding of the institutions has always been a major concern”.

“The institutions are not funded. The states are even worse because state governments just establish schools without actually funding those schools. So, no infrastructure is in place,” Dutse said.

Also, the bill to review the Act on the establishment of polytechnics in Nigeria, according to Dutse, has not been passed by the National Assembly despite several efforts by ASUP to get the lawmakers to pass the bill. Dutse said perhaps the strike would help in fast-tracking the passage of the bill.

Another cause of agitation for the polytechnic lecturers is the issue of owed salary and allowance arrears, which in some states had risen up to 14 months.

“We have states that are owing about 14-month salaries. Some owe eight months. Benue, Ogun, Osun, Edo, Kogi are owing up to as long as 14 months,” Dutse said.

The last industrial action by ASUP was in November 2017, but following prompt action by the federal government and the agreement to implement the recommendations of the 2014 NEEDS assessment, the strike was suspended 15 days after.

The proposed strike by ASUP will, no doubt, do further damage on the Nigerian education sector. The ministry of Labour and Employment led by Dr. Chris Ngige and its Education counterpart under the watch of Mr. Adamu Adamu have so far reportedly not been able to get the university lecturers to suspend their own strike.

It's noteworthy that the latest meeting between the FG and ASUU representatives on Tuesday, 4th December 2018 ended in another deadlock.