November 21, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian Senate had approved President Tinubu’s request for a new eternal borrowing of N1,767,610,321,779.00 (USD2.209bn) in the 2024 Appropriation Act.
The approval follows the consideration and adoption of the report of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt, presented at plenary on Thursday, by its Chairman, Senator Aliyu Wamakko.
President Tinubu had in a letter read at plenary on Tuesday, by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, explained that the external loan would be part of the funds that will be used to finance the N28.7 trillion 2024 Appropriation.
This, he said, was in accordance with the provisions of Sections 21 (1) and 27 (1) of the Debt Management Office and the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives, on Thursday, rejected a proposed constitution amendment bill, seeking a single six-year term for the president, governors, and local government chairmen across the federation.
Sponsored by Ikenga Ugochinyere and 33 others, the Bill had proposed six geopolitical zones a rotational system for the presidency and governorship within these zones, as well as the conduct of all elections for President and Governors, National and State Assemblies, on a single day.
Specifically, the Bill sought to “amend the provision of section 132 of the Constitution by inserting a new subsection (2) deleting the extant subsection (4) and renumbering the entire section accordingly to provide that an election to the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be rotated between the North and the South regions of the country every six years.
“The alteration of Section 76 by inserting a new subsection (3) as follows; (3) For the Purpose of Section (1) of this section, all elections into the offices of President, Governors, National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly shall hold simultaneously on the same date to be determined by the Independent National Electoral Commission in consultation with the National Assembly and in accordance with the Electoral Act.
“Section 116 of the Principal Act is amended by inserting a new subsection (3) as follows: For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section, all elections into the offices of President, Governors, National Assembly, State Houses of Assembly and Local Government Councils shall be held simultaneously on the same date to be determined by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in consultation with the National Assembly and in accordance with the Electoral Act.
“Section 132 of the Principal Act is amended by inserting a new subsection (2), deleting the extant subsection (4) and renumbering the entire section accordingly: An election to the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be rotated between the North and the South regions of the Country every six years. Provided that where it is the turn of the North or South to present a candidate for election into the office of President, it shall be rotated among the three geo-political zones that constitute the regions. The extant subsection (2) becomes subsection (3) The extant subsection (3) becomes subsection (4) The extant subsection (4) is hereby deleted The extant subsection (5) remains subsection (5).
“Section 136 of the Principal Act is amended by deleting the extant subsections 1 & 2 and replacing them with new subsections I, 2 and 3 as follows: If a person duly elected as President dies before taking and subscribing to the Oath of Allegiance and oath of office or is for any reason whatsoever unable to be sworn in, the person elected with him as First Vice President shall be sworn in as President and he shall appoint a new First Vice President with the approval of a simple majority of the National Assembly at a joint sitting.
“A person who was sworn in as Governor to complete the term for which another person was elected as Governor shall not be elected to such office for another term. The Principal Act is altered by inserting a new Section 188 immediately after the extant 187 and immediately before the extant 188 and renumbering accordingly as follows; 188(1) Notwithstanding any other provision, the Governor shall present a mid-term account of stewardship performance report to the State House of Assembly at the end of the third year of the six-year term.”
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