Ekiti State House of Assembly on Tuesday approved the creation of state police and state judicial council in the ongoing fifth alteration to the Amendment to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The House was presided over by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Funminiyi Afuye also ratified the provisions stipulating the procedure for the removal from office of principal officers of the Houses of Assembly.
The amended bills were transmitted to the House of Assembly for ratification in March 2022.
The assembly Leader of Government Business, Hon. Gboyega Aribisogan told journalists that the lawmakers ratified the alteration to the issue of law reform in the country for radical improvement in the qualities of laws that will guide the three arms of government.
Aribisogan said: “At the plenary today, the Assembly approved some areas being considered for an amendment to the 1999 constitution by the National Assembly. What we did was just a concurrence to the amendments and not further alterations to what had been done by the National Assembly.
“These include the approval for the Law mandating the state to have state police to improve security across the county. We also approved a law stating the procedure to be followed for the removal of the principal officers of the Houses of Assembly to ensure stability and improve the quality of governance.
“The Assembly also unanimously approved the alteration to the constitution allowing State to have a law backing the establishment of State Judicial Council just like the National Judicial Council at the federal level so that the Judiciary can be autonomous.
“The Assembly also approved the amendment to the proper regulation of the law reform to ensure that quality laws are made to guarantee good legislation and robust governance and equality in the system,” he said.
Also at the plenary, the Ekiti State Economic Development Council (Amendment) Bill 2022 which deals with the composition and other matters of the Council was also passed, while a bill for the creation of additional three local council development areas and two other bills were considered by the lawmakers.
The National Assembly in March this year transmitted 44 passed Constitution alteration bills to the 36 state Houses of Assembly for concurrence.
The Clerk to the National Assembly, Amos Ojo, distributed the copies of the bills to clerks of the state Assemblies at a transmission ceremony in Abuja.
The federal lawmakers voted on the 68 amendments recommended by the Joint Senate and House of Representatives Special Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution.
The amended clauses were made possible after a two-thirds or four-fifth majority of each of the Senate and the House of Reps had approved the amendment.
It will take the concurrence of two-thirds or 24 of the 36 of the state Houses of Assembly to give effect to the amendments made by the National Assembly.
