Last Friday was an opportunity for the Lagos State Government, residents of the State as well as the State House of Assembly to declare their support, not only for the creation of more Local Government Areas for the country, but for the expunging of the sections that created for the listing of Local Governments in the Constitution.
The event was a one-day public hearing on the proposed amendment to the 1999 Constitution by the National Assembly, organised by the Lagos State House of Assembly and held at the Lateef Jakande Auditorium within the complex in Alausa, Ikeja.
Stakeholders at the event seemed to support the views of the State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, who in a lengthy proposal he read before the attendees described the call for the creation of more states as unrealistic.
Dignitaries at the event included the first civilian Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, members of the State House of Assembly including the principal officers like the Speaker of the House, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, Deputy Speaker, Kolawole Taiwo, members of the State Executive Council including the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Ade Ipaiye, and the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Aderemi Ibirogba, Local Government Chairmen and Councilors, the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, Akran of Badagry, Aholu Menu Toyi 1 and members of the public.
Fashola reminded the crowd at the event that most of the existing states were facing financial difficulties and have always relied on the Federal Government for support.
According to the Governor, who noted the huge cost which the administrative machinery and personnel of the new states would attract, “most states are currently not sufficiently viable to justify further subdivisions. It may well be that the agitation for more inclusiveness in governance and for rapid development may be better addressed by the creation of more local governments than it can be done by the creation more states.”
He noted that the creation of more local governments would meet the goal of bringing government closer to the people and enhancing development at the grassroots.
“It seems therefore that the proper thing to do is to leave the Local Governments out of the Constitution or vest the entire responsibility for them in the States and amend the Constitution accordingly by deleting or amending, as the case may be, all sections that introduce them into the Constitution such as Section 3 subsection 5, section 7 (1), section 8, section 167 and part of the First Schedule dealing with boundary descriptions,” the governor added.
Apart from this, Governor Fashola said it would be proper for the new constitution to put paid to the controversy surrounding fiscal federalism as currently practised in the country as, according to him, revenue allocation is central to the existence and functioning of both the Federal Government and the federating units.
He therefore proposed a new formula that gives the Federal Government 35 per cent, State Governments 42 per cent and Local Government Councils 23 per cent and further argued that in the case where Local Government Councils are eventually expunged from the Constitution and the states having to fund the councils, a further amendment would be sought to give the Federal Government 25 per cent, State Governments 45 per cent, Derivation 25 per cent and Intervention/Support Fund five per cent.
“In addition, we take the view that derivation should not be limited to petroleum alone. It should be applicable to all resources and all revenues collected into the federal purse. Further, the right of all communities in the management and exploration of resources within their territories should be guaranteed by the Constitution,” Fashola stated, adding that at this stage it was necessary to guarantee the integrity of the entire process of revenue allocation by appointing an Accountant-General for the Federation to manage the Federation Account, as distinct and different from the Accountant-General of the Federal Government.
The governor, while speaking on sundry issues relating to the country and how it should be run, further proposed that Lagos State should be accorded a special status as the former capital of the Federal Republic as well as in relation to the population of the state and the fact that the state is the commercial nerve-centre of the country.
Fashola, while also rejecting the call for the removal of immunity for certain political offices arguing that the concept was not meant for the individual but the office, stated that what would have been achieved with the removal of the immunity clause could still be achieved at the expiration of the tenure of the serving officials.
He further stressed that in the review of the constitution, cognizance should be given to serious questions bothering on the whether the Federal Government had the human, institutional and governmental capacity to provide basic needs such as primary education, water supply, sanitation and primary health care in a reliable manner in all the 774 Local Governments and whether it is able to maintain all the 9001 roads in Lagos State and make them pothole free all year round and whether it is able to do the same thing in the remaining 35 states.
The Governor, who stated that his paper was an aggregation of the harmonization of the 2005 and 2009 Lagos reports and position and relevant parts of the various communiqués issued during the various State Executive/Legislative parleys, said: “We therefore recommend that the items on the exclusive list should be substantially reduced to reflect the principles of appropriateness and state autonomy.” He added that state legislatures should have or share jurisdiction on subjects like Police, Criminal Records, Prisons, Evidence, Establishment of Air, and Seaports, Railways, Electric Power generation and distribution as well as the taxation of incomes, profits and capital gains.
He added that it was the position of the state that the appointment, remuneration and discipline of Judges of the State High Court should be the exclusive responsibility of each State of the Federation.
“The functions now conferred on the National Judicial Council with respect to State High Court Judges should be part of the judicial powers of the states which ought to be carried out by the State Judicial Service Commission. We are also of the view that interlocutory appeals should terminate at the Court of Appeal, thereby reducing the time spent on litigation,” Governor Fashola said.
While proposing the creation of state police, he hit hard at the traditional institution by proposing that they should not be accorded any responsibility in the new constitution as they have often agitated for.
His argument was that unlike the Federal Government, State Governments which are created by the Constitution and Local Governments which are created by laws made pursuant to the Constitution, the institution of Obaship predates constitutional governance in Nigeria and was therefore contrary to Nigeria’s federal intent to seek to unify diverse cultural traditional institutions in the Constitution. He further argued that subjects of local peculiarity must be kept with the sub-national entities and that each State should therefore be encouraged to use their relevant Obas and Chiefs laws rather than make it a constitutional matter.
In his presentation, former Speaker and two- term Senator, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, challenged members of the National Assembly to put in place an Act to establish a Constituent Assembly which will have powers to put in place a peoples Constitution rather than create more opportunities for the constitution to be handled like minutes book for community meetings.
The former Senator, who said the 1999 Constitution had not been given enough time to mature like the American Constitution that is over 200 years old and had only faced less than 30 amendments since then, supported the granting of a special status for Lagos State.
He further argued in support of Local Government creation saying it should no longer require the approval of the National Assembly and the listing of such Local Governments in the Constitution.
This view was also supported by former Federal Commissioner of Works, Femi Okunnu, who clamoured in favour of a system where the federating units would survive with what they can provide for themselves. He said the before now, the creation of Local Governments were in the hands of the states saying that the country needed to revert to the system.
Rejecting the listing of Local Government in the Constitution, he asked: “What if a Local Government in Lagos Island wants to change its name? Must it have to go through constitutional amendment?”
He said Local Governments is a major area to look at in the review of the Constitution.
In his presentation, constitutional lawyer, Professor Itse Sagay, said the Federal Government had to shed some of its powers to the states adding that, “the minimum wage for instance is another issue that the Federal Government should leave with the states. Each state should determine its minimum wage.”
In his remarks, Speaker Ikuforiji said whatever conclusions were reached at the end of the parley would help to reshape the nation, adding that everyone should feel free to voice his or her opinion.
He added that just as the State House of Assembly ensured that it made its position known on amendments to the 1999 Constitution through the 2009 attempt, the same would be done with the present attempt to amend some parts of the 1999 Constitution.
Chairman of the ad-hoc Committee on the constitution review, Ajibayo Adeyeye, said the public hearing was convened to create a platform for members of the public to air their views on the proposed amendments.
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