Tinubu to Receive Bill on Regional Government Next Week

A bill advocating for Nigeria’s return to a regional system of government will be sent to President Bola Tinubu next week, Saturday PUNCH has exclusively learned.

Last week, the House of Representatives disowned a draft bill that circulated widely online.

The bill, titled “A Bill for an Act to Substitute the Annexure to Decree 24 of 1999 with a New Governance Model for the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” proposes new laws to be cited as “The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria New Governance Model for Nigeria Act 2024.”

The bill’s preliminaries state, “Whereas Nigeria, its peoples, and government have been governed under Decree 24 of 1999 handed down by the then military government without the express consent of the people despite the preamble of ‘We, the people.’

“Whereas the said Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) is not autochthonous as it does not evolve from the deliberations and consensus of the Nigerian people; whereas the peoples of Nigeria now desire and effectively demand a change to a constitution based on a federal/regional system of government.

“Whereas the federal and regional governments are to operate within the provisions of this Constitution, it is within the discretion of the ethnic blocs within the states that constitute a given region to aggregate or disaggregate as provinces, divisions, and districts, while being in control of their affairs without let or hindrance at whatever level of governance.”

In response to inquiries, House spokesman Akin Rotimi and Chairman of Rules and Business Francis Waive stated that the proposed legislation was not before the committee for deliberation.

However, the drafter of the private bill, Dr. Akin Fapohunda, who had earlier informed our correspondent of his intent to interface with members of the National Assembly, said on Friday that he had chosen to send the proposed law to President Tinubu, who may then present it to the parliament as an executive bill.