In an exclusive report, Saturday PUNCH has learned that a bill seeking a return to a regional system of government for Nigeria will be transmitted to President Bola Tinubu next week.
The proposed legislation, titled “A Bill for an Act to substitute the annexure to Decree 24 of 1999 with new governance model for the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” seeks to establish new extant laws to be cited as “The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria New Governance Model for Nigeria Act 2024.”
The bill’s preliminaries argue that the current 1999 Constitution (as amended) is not autochthonous, as it does not evolve from the deliberations and consensus of the Nigerian people. It states that the people of Nigeria now desire and demand a change to a constitution based on a federal/regional system of government.
Under the proposed system, the federal and regional governments would operate within the provisions of the new constitution, and the ethnic blocs within the states that constitute a given region would have the discretion to aggregate or disaggregate as provinces, divisions, and districts, while being in control of their affairs.
Last week, the House of Representatives disowned the draft bill that had circulated widely on the internet, with the House spokesman, Akin Rotimi, and the Chairman of the Rules and Business Committee, Francis Waive, stating that the proposed legislation was not before the committee for deliberation.
However, the drafter of the private bill, Dr. Akin Fapohunda, had earlier hinted that he intended to interface with members of the National Assembly before transmitting the bill to the parliament. On Friday, he said he had chosen to send the proposed law directly to President Tinubu, who may in turn present it to the parliament as an executive bill.
