Oluyemi Ogunseyin
The House of Representatives has debunked the media reports on the purported “draft bill seeking a return to a regional system of government for Nigeria.”
A spokesman for the House of Reps, Hon. Akin Rotimi, dismissed the reports through a chat posted on Speaker Tajudeen Abbas’ Media platform on Thursday evening.
Rotimi reacting denied knowledge of the purported bill, saying: “It is a memorandum or a proposal. It is not a bill. At least, not yet. This is an important distinction.”
Reports emerged last Saturday that President Bola Tinubu would receive a bill proposing a shift to a regional governance structure in Nigeria next week.
Although the reports were in contrast with the denial of the House of Representatives when the draft bill recently went viral online, BusinessDay newspaper had said.
The purported bill, 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’, is aimed at introducing laws which would be known as “The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria New Governance Model for Nigeria Act 2024.”
According to the bill’s introduction, Nigeria has been under the governance of Decree 24 of 1999 which was imposed by a military government without the people’s consent.
The bill was said to have further pointed out that the country’s current constitution is not derived from the Nigerian people’s consensus, noting that there is a call for a constitution based on a federal/regional system.
The bill reportedly outlined that federal and regional governments will operate under this constitution, which will in turn permit ethnic groups within states to form or become provinces, divisions and districts, thereby, allowing them to manage their affairs independently.
“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 a change to a constitution based on federal/regional system of government.
“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 constitute 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 had, however, confirmed that the bill was not under committee review, as disclosed by House spokesman, Rotimi and chairman, Rules and Business, Francis Waive.
Akin Fapohunda, who is the author of the bill had earlier told newsmen of the plan to engage with National Assembly members before sending the bill to parliament.
However, last Friday, he said that he would submit the proposed legislation to President Tinubu for presentation to the parliament as an executive bill.
