Nigeria: Bill for Prime Minister position passes second reading

A Constitution amendment bill seeking a parliamentary system of government for the country yesterday passed a second reading in the House of Representatives.

The bill is sponsored by Kingsley Chinda, minority leader of the House, and 59 other lawmakers.

The proposed legislation canvasses the creation of the office of prime minister as head of government and the office of president as head of state.

Nigeria currently practises a presidential system that allows for a direct election of a president.

The key difference between both systems lies in how leaders are chosen.

In a presidential model, citizens directly elect the president, whereas, in a parliamentary system, the Legislature appoints a prime minister.

Nigeria practised the parliamentary model of government during the First Republic which lasted between 1960 and 1963.

Debate over Nigeria’s system of government has persisted for decades.

Proponents of the parliamentary system argue that it would reduce the cost of governance, unlike the presidential system which vests excessive powers in the Executive with appointees that are not directly accountable to the electorate.

The House said it rescinded the second reading of a bill seeking to strip the vice president, governors and deputy governors of immunity to allow for a thorough debate on it.

It also made a U-turn on the nod given another bill that wants a review of penalties for certain categories of capital offences.

The bill for immunity removal is sponsored by Solomon Bob while the second is by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu and six others.

Kalu, who presided over the plenary, said the two bills would be brought back for debate.

Spokesman for the House, Akintunde Rotimi, said the two bills remained an integral part of the constitutional amendment process.

Rotimi said: “During plenary on Thursday(yesterday), the House resolved to rescind the passage of these two bills and relist them for Second Reading to allow for an extensive and robust debate on their general principles

“These bills have not been discarded or removed from consideration. They remain part of the legislative process and will be revisited at a later date.”

He assured that the House was committed to the review of certain aspects of the ‘’widespread calls’’ by Nigerians.

The spokesman added: “As part of this effort, the House has prioritised 120 Constitution Amendment Bills upon resumption of legislative activities this week, fast-tracking their legislative progression, particularly at the second reading stage.

“During plenary on Wednesday, the House passed 42 Constitution amendment bills for second reading and were referred to the Committee on Constitution Review.

“For the avoidance of doubt, at the first and second reading stages, the content of any bill reflects solely the views of its sponsor(s) and not the position of the House or its leadership.

“The House formally engages with a bill only after it progresses to the committee stage, where public hearings are conducted.’’

Another proposed law canvassing 60 years as the maximum age for presidential and governorship aspirants also scaled second reading in the House.

Also, a bill that seeks to change the simple majority method for winning an election also got a nod.

This will require the winners of presidential and governorship elections to score more than half of the total number of votes cast.

The bill that suggests a 60-year maximum age for the President and governors is sponsored by Ikenga Ugochinyere.

The proposed law also seeks an amendment to Section 131 of the 1999 Constitution to make a bachelor’s degree in any discipline the minimum educational qualification for the presidency and governorship positions.

The bill seeking to eliminate a simple majority for winning elections as President and governor was sponsored by Awaji Abiante. It suggests the alteration of Section 134 (1)(a), (2)(a), (4)(a) and Section 179 (2)(a) (3) (a) of the Constitution.

The sponsor argues that the distrust by Nigerians who do not give this Republic a chance has become more palpable and may negatively affect the legitimacy of future elections ‘’if efforts are not made to reform our electoral process through purposeful legislations.’’

He argued that the absolute majority system has been judged a better system of electing members of the Executive in the presidential system with the majority of African nations adopting it.

Abiante added the amendment seeks to correct this lacuna in ‘’our present system of the election where a run-off election would be conducted to ensure that the winners in the presidential and governorship elections score more than half of the total votes cast to ensure.’’

Also passed for a second reading is a bill to involve the National Assembly in the process of negotiating for and entering into treaties with other countries.

It is sponsored by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu and six others.

It was passed alongside a bill that seeks to set a time within which civil and criminal matters are heard and determined at trials and Appellate courts in order to eliminate unnecessary delays in justice administration and delivery.

There was also a bill to increase the number of Justices of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal as well another for the review of the status of the Federal Capital Territory as regards the election of president.

Also passed for second reading were bills to provide for mandatory periodic conduct of the national census, strengthen transparency and regulate the issuance of waivers to Ministries, Departments, Agencies, Parastatals, extra-ministerial departments, public companies and corporations.

One of them canvasses the birth of Bende North Local Government Area of Abia State sponsored by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu.

Others are seeking the creation of Ughievwen Local Government Area in Delta State, Ideato-West in Imo State, Zurmi in Zamfara State and an unspecified number of more councils in Enugu state.

On Wednesday, the House passed for second reading, a bill seeking to recognise the 37 Development Area Councils of Lagos State as LGAs.

The lawmakers also passed for second reading, bills seeking the establishment of the University of Nigerian Languages in Aba, Abia State and the conduct of a population census every 10 years.

Culled from The Nation Newspaper 

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