The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has assented to the bill that mandates the President-elect and governors-elect to submit the names of persons nominated as ministers or commissioners within 60 days of taking the oath of office for confirmation by the Senate or State House of Assembly.
He also assented to the State Houses of Assembly Financial and State Judiciary autonomy bills and 14 other constitutional amendment bills alongside three other bills.
This, according to the Presidency, is in furtherance of Section 58 (4) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Babajide Omoworare, in a statement on Friday, made this known.
The highlights of the assented Constitutional Alteration Bills, among others, are ensuring financial independence of State Houses of Assembly and State Judiciary; regulating the first session and inauguration of members-elect of the National and State Houses of Assembly and for related matters.
The statement read, “Others are ensuring that the President and governors submit the names of persons nominated as ministers or commissioners within 60 days of taking the oath of office for confirmation by the Senate or State House of Assembly; and for related matters; enabling states generate, transmit, and distribute electricity in areas covered by the national grid; and for related matters.
“Excluding the period of intervening events in the computation of time for determining pre-election matters petitions, etc; regulating the first session and inauguration of members-elect of the national and state assemblies; changing prisons to correctional service and re-designate correctional service in the concurrent list; and moving item “railway” from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent list.”
The President also assented to three other bills: The Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology Act, The Nigerian Institute of International Relations Act, and The Federal Medical Centres (Amendment) Acts.
(Punch)
