17th March, 2023
Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari has signed a bill that compel president-elect and governors-elect to submit list of ministers and commissioners nominated to the National and State Assemblies within 60 days of being in office.
The law will take effect from the time President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu takes oath of office on May 29, 2023.
This is one of the bills the president assented to on Friday. The other bills are: State Houses of Assembly Financial and State Judiciary autonomy bills and 14 other constitutional amendment bills alongside three other bills.
Senator Babajide Omoworare, Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), in a statement said the first bill was 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.
He said other bills are to enable states generate, transmit, and distribute electricity in areas covered by the national grid; and for related matters.
The president also signed 16 Constitution Amendment Bills into Law. By this signing, State Houses of Assembly and Judiciaries now have constitutionally-guaranteed financial independence, while Railways have moved from Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent.
Now that the Bills have been assented to, and have become Acts of Parliament, the next step is for “gazetting” to happen – the process by which the assented Acts are published in the Official Gazette of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Here’s what a Gazetted Act looks like: