Friday 12 April 2013

Reps reject 6-yr tenure for President, Govs; dump state creation




Indication emerged Thursday that the House of Representatives has dumped the clamour for the creation of new states in the country.

The House has also distanced itself from the request for a six-year single tenure for the President and governors, sticking to the provision of the 1999 Constitution of two terms of four years each.

These formed the highlights of the report of the Constitution Review Committee, headed by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives counterpart, Emeka Ihedioha, which is due for presentation next week.


Vanguard learnt from competent sources that the committee, however, recommended full autonomy for the 774 LGAs and the 36 Houses of Assembly in the country.

It was gathered that the committee decided to jettison the creation of new states following the pressure mounted by some Northern governors and political leaders that they did not want new states at the moment.

Pressure from Northern governors
One of the northern governors recently described the move by the National Assembly for new states as a waste of time and resources and asked the members to discontinue with the exercise.

The outspoken governor had also accused the lawmakers of trying to weaken the north with new states, a development that drew criticisms from the House, which described his utterances as unbecoming of his position.

It was learnt that although almost all the states endorsed state creation during the nationwide collation of opinions, the issue was later ‘shut down’ to calm frayed nerves.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

hello