Members of the house of representatives have cast votes in favor of the bill seeking to empower states to regulate electricity and the declaration of public holidays.
This was done at the plenary session on Tuesday, when the green chamber passed for second reading a constitution amendment bill that seeks to devolve to states some items which the 1999 constitution reserves for the federal government.
It was gathered from TheCable news that lawmakers who endorsed the bill argued that the federal government is “overburdened” and needs to let go some of its powers to fast-track Nigeria’s development.
According to the report, Mohammed Monguno, majority leader and sponsor of the bill, said the transfer of those powers to the states is long overdue, and will “set in development in Nigeria”.
Uzoma Nkem-Abonta from Delta state said:
“What is the business of federal government with some of these items? Until we unbundle the centre, Nigeria will remain stagnant.
“We are saying the centre is overloaded with a lot and they cannot move. We need to reduce the centre so they can move.“
Kuye Aliu from Lagos said the bill “goes to the very heart of all agitations in this country”.
“The constitution provides that Nigeria shall be a federation but as it is, it is running like a unitary system of government,” he said.
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“There may be no peace in the country until we leave that colonial mentality. This is a bill that all of us should support at this critical time.”