Nigerian Senate Backs Plans To Reduce Power Of Presidency

Nigeria's current president is 32 years above the current lower age limit. Getty Images

Nigeria's upper house of parliament backed a series of constitutional amendments on Wednesday that could weaken the presidency and boost the legislature, the latest twist in a two-year power struggle between the two institutions.

Reuters report continues:

The head of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, who is pushing the changes, said they would help boost Nigeria's development but a senior official in President Muhammadu Buhari's government said they amounted to "a very unhealthy" power grab.

Saraki has been tipped as a possible eventual successor to the ailing Buhari, who has spent more time this year in Britain receiving treatment for an undisclosed medical problem than he has in Nigeria. Buhari, 74, is currently again in Britain.

"What we have done today definitely is to lay the foundation for a far-reaching reform of our political, economic and social development," Saraki said after the Senate vote.

The amendments must still be approved by the lower house and two thirds of Nigeria's 36 regional state parliaments and then be signed off by the president.

The measures include providing certain legal immunity to members of the legislature, reducing the president's ability to withhold assent for a bill passed by parliament, and removing law-making powers from the executive.

The Senate also voted to impose time limits on key presidential decisions such as nominating ministers and proposing federal budgets, both of which have been much-delayed under Buhari.

A senior government official, who declined to be named because not authorized to speak to the media on the matter, criticized the Senate's move.

"The executive sees this development as very unhealthy because laws should be made for the overall interest of the nation and not some people or an arm of government wanting to aggregate more powers to themselves," the official said.

The lower chamber, the House of Representatives, is due to vote on the proposed amendments on Thursday.

Analysts noted the sensitive timing of the Senate move.

"The amendments do raise the profile of the Senate and their passage at this particular moment, with the president outside the country, although not law without his approval, will be interpreted by some in the political establishment as a bid by the Senate leadership to dilute the executive's authority," said Antony Goldman of Nigeria-focused PM Consulting.

Saraki, 54, hails from Buhari's All Progressives Congress, but he assumed the Senate presidency in 2015 without the party's support but with the backing of the opposition.

As Senate leader - constitutionally the third most powerful position in the country after the president and vice-president - he has proven a nimble political operator. Despite numerous accusations of misconduct and investigations, none have stuck to him.

Saraki has often been a thorn in the side of the presidency, with parliament repeatedly blocking presidential appointments to key positions.

Nigeria's national budget both last year and this were only signed into law after many delays, often caused by battles between the parliament and the presidency over the allocation of federal funds to key projects.

Saraki has also criticized Buhari for allowing power to be concentrated among the president's chief of staff and an inner circle at the presidential villa.

Nigerian youths can now contest for president at the age of 35 and governor or senators at the age of 30 — away from the initial 40 and 35 years limit mandated by the constitution

Senate Says You Can Now Run For President At 35, Gov At 30

TheCable reports that Nigerian senate on Wednesday passed the highly anticipated not too young to run bill, which seeks age reduction for elective offices in the country.

This was disclosed after an electronic vote in the senate showed that 86 senators were in support, while 10 were against and one of the lawmakers abstained.

Effectively, Nigerian youths can contest for president at the age of 35 and governor or senators at the age of 30 — away from the initial 40 and 35 years limit mandated by the constitution.

This bill goes on to stipulate that 25-year-olds can now legislate in the national and state assemblies across the country.

For the bill to however take effect, it needs the endorsement of 24 state assemblies and presidential assent.

The bill seeks an alteration of sections 65, 106 and 131 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.

Chidi Odinkalu, former chairman human rights commission and a strong supporter of the bill, had said in Abuja on Tuesday that the future of the country is in the hands of the youth.

He said the country could not afford to lose such legislation.

“We are in a country with thhe median age of 19 but people who want to save Nigeria’s unity have an average age of over 60,” Odinkalu had said.

“Who are they saving the country for? People are being invited across the country as leaders of thought, who are they thinking for? At our age, average age of the Nigerian youth given our life expectancy, we are already in the middle age and life expectancy for women is 51 and falling, for men, it’s 49 and falling.

“So, if you are in your 20s, you are in your middle age. People like me are already in injury time and people like us should be seeking to replace ourselves with the kind of people who are leading the Not Too Young to Run movement.

“Because we are going to die and life expectancy is short, we must replace ourselves with better people, when I look at young Nigerians I’m reassured that this country has a future. That is one promising thing about us.”

Below are the 33 bills they considered and how they voted:

BILL	YES	NO	REMARK
Members of the Council of States	95	NIL	Passed
Devolution of Power	90	5	Passed
Financial Autonomy of State Legislature	90	5	Passed
Distributable account for LG’s to have their own special account	84	8	Passed
Democratic Existence funding and tenure of LG council	88	7	Passed
State creation and boundary adjustment	47	48	Not Passed
Immunity for legislators for Acts in Course of Duty	93	1	Passed
Political Parties and Electoral Matters : Time to conduct Bye Elections and Power to deregister parties	90	0	Passed
Presidential Assent	95	1	Passed
Time frame for submission of names of ministerial nominees	75	19	Passed
Submission of Ministerial Nominees with their Portfolios	78	16	Passed
35% affirmative action for women as ministers	49	43	Not Passed
Submission of Commissioners Nominees with their Portfolios	84	7	Passed
Submission of names of office of commissioners shall be attached with portfolio	87	8	Passed
35% Affirmative action for women as States Commissioners	61	35	Passed
Authorization of expenditure	93	1	Passed
Appointment of Minister from the FCT	77	12	Passed
Change of names of some LG councils: Ebonyi, Oyo, Ogun, Pleateau and Rivers	84	2	Passed
Independent Candidacy	82	5	Passed
The Nigeria Police Force to become Nigerian Police	87	2	Passed
Restriction of the tenure of President and Governor	88	0	Passed
Separation of Office of the Accountant-General	89	0	Passed
Office of Auditor General to be included in first line chat of consolidated revenue	95	0	Passed
Separation of Office of the Attorney General from the Minister/Commissioner of Justice	95	1	Passed
Submissions from the Judiciary	95	2	Passed
Determination of pre-election matters	97	0	Passed
Consequential Amendment on Civil Defence	97	0	Passed
Citizenship and indigeneship	49	46	Passed
Procedure for Overriding Presidential Veto in Constitutional Alteration	87	4	Passed
Removal of law making power from Executive Arm	89	3	Passed
Investment and Securities Tribunal	76	14	Passed
Reduction of Age for Election	86	10	Passed
Authorization of expenditure time frame for laying Appropriation bill, Passage etc	94	0	Passed
Deletion of NYSC decree from CFRN	88	33	Passed
Deletion of Public Complain Act from CFRN	90	1	Passed
Deletion of National Security Agencies from the CFRN	92	2	Passed
Deletion of land Use Act from CFRN	46	44	Passed
Deletion of State INEC from CFRN	73	19	Passed