National Assembly Moves To Strip Executive Of Power To Prosecute

In the ongoing constitution amendment, the National Assembly is putting finishing touches on a legislation which aims at separating the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and those of the states from the office of the minister of or commissioner for justice.

The 8th Assembly has also approved a Bill for an Act seeking to make the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation and those of the states financially independent by placing them on the consolidated revenue of the federation and of the state.

The Bill provides for new sections ‘84A – 84E’  in section 84, which stipulates that “there shall be an Accountant-General of the Federation” and “there shall be an Accountant-General of the Federal Government”, respectively.

These amendments are part of the 23 item resolution approved by the House of Representatives Special Ad-hoc Committee on constitutional review, headed by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Yussuff Sulaimon Lasun.

The Bill seeks to amend sections 150 and 174 of the 1999 constitution (as amended).

Section 150 (1) stipulates that “there shall be an Attorney General of the Federation who shall be the Chief Law Officer and a Minister of the Government of the Federation”.

In the proposed amendment, the section  provides that “there shall be a Minister of Justice who shall be a Minister and Chief Law Officer of the Government of the Federation”.