Restructuring: Reps May Allow States Control Railway, Power, Others

 

The Federal Government may lose some of its powers to states of the federation , including its exclusive control of the power sector , railway , among others , with the ongoing review of the Constitution by the National Assembly.

The House of Representatives is considering devolution of power from the central government to the states through some bills seeking to move items from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent List.

Three bills sponsored by Mr Babajimi Benson at the House on Wednesday passed the first reading.

The first bill particularly seeks to amend Second Schedule in Part 11 of the Constitution especially Items 13 and 14 to allow public and private entities be involved in “ generation , transmission and distribution of electricity within the state or from the state to any other state with the consent of the state governments concerned.”

The explanatory memorandum on the proposal reads , “ This bill seeks to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Act ( No 24 ) 1999 ( as amended ) , to provide that state governments shall have Concurrent Legislative Authority , similar to that of the Federal Government , with respect to power and electricity within their states or from one state to another subject to the consent of the state governments concerned.”

Another bill also seeks to alter the Second Schedule of the Constitution “ to provide that the Federal Government and the state governments shall have Concurrent Legislative Authority with respect to railway and matters related thereto.”

The third bill seeks to alter section 315 ( 5 ) ( d ) of the Constitution “ to remove the Land Use Act from the Acts listed in the section in order to make the amendment of the Act flexible and similar to other Acts of the National Assembly .”

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