Author: PositiveNaija

The House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has concluded voting on 33 major bills to amend several parts of the Nigerian constitution.

Bill 1: Members of the Council of States To Include former Senate President & House of Reps Speakers as members
Yes: 274
No: 6
Abstain: 2

Bill 2: Reduction of Authorization of expenditure Before Budget Passage from 6 to 3 months
Yes: 295
No: 0
Abstain: 0

Bill 3: Devolution of Powers to States
Yes: 210
No: 71
Abstain: 0

Bill 4: Financial Autonomy for State Legislature
Yes: 286
No: 10
Abstain: 1

Bill 5: Financial Autonomy to LGAs
Yes: 291
No: 12
Abstain: 1

Bill 6: Democratic Existence, Funding and Tenure of LGAs
Yes: 285
No: 7
Abstain: 1

Bill 7: State creation and boundary adjustment
Yes: 166
No: 125
Abstain: 3

Bill 8: Immunity for legislators for Words Spoken in Chamber or in Committee Meetings in Course of Duty
Yes: 288
No: 10
Abstain: 1

Bill 9: Political Parties and Electoral Matters: Time to conduct Bye Elections and Power to deregister parties
Yes: 293
No: 2
Abstain: 1

Bill 10: Presidential Assent To Constitution Amendment Bill
Yes: 248
No: 28
Abstain: 4

Bill 11a: Time frame for submission of names of ministerial nominees
Yes: 248
No: 46
Abstain: 1

Bill 11b: Submission of Ministerial Nominees with their Portfolios
Yes: 248
No: 46
Abstain: 1

Bill 11c: 35% affirmative action for women as ministers
Yes: 248
No: 46
Abstain: 1

Bill 11d: Submission of Commissioners Nominees with their Portfolios
Yes: 248
No: 46
Abstain: 1

Bill 11e: Submission of names of office of commissioners shall be attached with portfolio
Yes: 248
No: 46
Abstain: 1

Bill 11f: 35% Affirmative action for women as States Commissioners
Yes: 248
No: 46
Abstain: 1

Bill 12: Appointment of Minister from the FCT
Yes: 191
No: 21
Abstain: 3

Bill 13: Change of names of some LG councils: Ebonyi, Oyo, Ogun, Plateau and Rivers
Yes: 220
No: 57
Abstain: 8

Bill 14: Independent Candidacy
Yes: 275
No: 14
Abstain: 1

Bill 15: The Nigeria Police Force to become Nigerian Police
Yes: 280
No: 9
Abstain: 1

Bill 16: Restriction of the Tenure of Presidents and Governors
Yes:292
No: 3
Abstain: 3

Bill17: Separation of office of Accountant General of the Federal Government from Accountant General of the Federation
Yes:274
No: 23
Abstain: 2

Bill 18: Financial Independence for Office of Auditor of Federation/State
Yes: 289
No: 11
Abstain: 0

Bill 19: Separation of Office of the Attorney General of the Federation/State from the office of Minister/Commissioner of Justice
Yes: 234
No: 58
Abstain: 3

Bill 20: Submissions from the Judiciary
Yes: 265
No: 6
Abstain: 7

Bill 21: Determination of pre-election matters
Yes: 288
No: 3
Abstain: 1

Bill 22: Consequential Amendment on Civil Defence
Yes: 293
No: 2
Abstain: 1

Bill 23: Citizenship and indigeneship
Yes: 208
No: 78
Abstain: 2

Bill 24: Procedure for Overriding Presidential Veto in Constitutional Alteration
Yes: 271
No: 20
Abstain: 0

Bill 25: Removal of law making power from Executive Arm.
Yes:
No:
Abstain:

Bill 25: Part (1): Removal of NYSC, National Security Agencies, Public Complaints Commission Acts from the Constitution
Yes: 209
No:47
Abstain: 5

Bill 25 Part 2: Removal of Land Use Act from Constitution
Yes:139
No:148
Abstain:4

Bill 26: Investment and Securities Tribunal
Yes: 270
No: 12
Abstain: 2

Bill 27: Reduction of Age for Election
Yes: 261
No: 23
Abstain: 2

Bill 28: Authorization of expenditure time frame for laying Appropriation bill, Passage, etc.
Yes: 252
No: 7
Abstain:2

Bill 29: Deletion of the National Youth Service Corps decree from CFRN
Yes: Rejected
No:
Abstain:

Bill 30: Deletion of Public Complain Act from CFRN.
Yes: Rejected
No:
Abstain:

Bill 31: Deletion of National Security Agencies from the CFRN
Yes: Rejected
No:
Abstain:

Bill 32: Deletion of State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) from CFRN
Yes: 229
No: 51
Abstain: 1

Bill 33: Inclusion of Section 141 of Electoral Act into the Constitution
Yes:241
No:16
Abstain:1

Winners have emerged in the 2017 BusinessDay States Competitiveness and Good Governance Awards held at Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja.

• Fastest Growing State economy award – Kano State

Based on noticeable increase in its IGR, expanding business opportunities and rising confidence among investors across the state.

• Best State in Tourism Award – Osun State

Based on its consistent successes in hosting the annual Osun Osogbo festival.

• The most improved in healthcare development – Ebonyi State

Governor David Umahi’s administration was commended for channeling the resources of the state to build the first virology centre for the entire south eastern region.

• Transparency in Governance award – Jigawa State

The Award Committee based its decision on full disclosure of the contracts awarded, their costs, contractors and the level of performance of each project.

• The most improved state in rural and urban development – Enugu and Edo states
• Best state promoting made in Nigeria goods and SME development award – Abia State

This campaign earned entrepreneurs in Abia state about ₦1 billion in revenue in the last fiscal year. Governor Okezie Ikpeazu was highly commended for promoting made in Nigeria goods.

• The most improved state in ease of doing business – Kaduna State

Since he assumed office, Mallam El Rufai introduced a number of measures that have seen all the government agencies improved remarkably in addressing investors’ concerns and this has led to a number of new investments being injected into the state.

• Agricultural development award – Benue State
• Housing development award – Ogun State
• The most improved states in education development for the southern and northern regions respectively – Imo and Sokoto states

Apart from being the state with the highest enrolments into tertiary institutions in the country, Imo State has maintained the top five positions by WAEC ranking among the states of the federation. On its part, Sokoto State has embarked on massive reforms of the education sector, starting with the highest budgetary allocation to that sector.

• The most improved states in peace and security – Gombe and Plateau states

According to Frank Aigbogun, publisher/CEO BusinessDay:

“As the leading business and financial newspaper in West Africa, our aim is to encourage state governments and public officials generally, to see governance as a serious business, so that our scarce resources can be judiciously used with a view to making Nigeria a better place for all.

There is no doubt that since the good governance awards debuted, we have seen a lot of improvements in governance across the states. Starting with increasing internally generated revenue (IGR), robust official websites that help public officials disseminate information better; timely disclosures of government finances, especially with regards to the awards of contracts, and so on.”