Last month, the President, Muhammadu Buhari signed three constitutional amendment acts seeking to move some items from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent List in the Constitution. According to the 1999 Nigeria Constitution (as amended), the Exclusive Legislative List contains items only the National Assembly can legislate on; while items on the Concurrent List can be legislated on by both the federal and state governments.
Simply put, the Exclusive List involves only the Federal Government, while the Concurrent List involves both federal and state governments.
With the continuous clamour for ‘true federalism’, ‘devolution of powers’ and other terms that allow states to have more authority over their affairs, this move by Mr President has been met with positive feedback. However, analysts are still weighing the implications of the seemingly positive constitutional amendment.
Was this Buhari’s way of leaving a legacy as he prepares to round off his second term in office? Can the new laws be the foundation for further devolution of power in Nigeria? Are we finally witnessing the groundwork for true Federalism? The answers to these questions lie in how states will choose to wield their new power and how this will translate to development at the state level.
Let’s take the Anambra example. In 2021, as part of the prerequisites to convince voters at Agu-Awka, the now-Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, released what he termed “the People’s Manifesto.” The document detailed his plan for the state if elected into office. In the document, he explained the need for an engagement with the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company and the need for the construction of a railway network to decongest traffic and make transportation more efficient.
Soludo won the election to achieve his dream of a liveable, prosperous, and smart megacity. Now, the Federal Government has given states the right to develop intrastate railway stations. States can also now generate, transmit and distribute power in areas covered by the national grid.
Soludo’s manifesto was ambitious. It presents great ideas that can ignite Anambra’s 4th industrial revolution creating a more industrialised economy for the state. The document also clearly states how funding will limit the actualisation of this plan. The internally generated revenue of the state no matter how prudently utilised will not cover the cost of developing the infrastructures necessary for the industrial development outlined in the document. Hence the need to explore more creative means of funding.
How the constitution amendment is a good one for Anambra State. One of the benefits of moving the item “railway” to the Concurrent List is that it opens the sector to private sector participation. Though the Federal Government still retains the right to make laws on interstate railways, the state government can determine the intrastate development of railways. Private investors will no longer need to seek approval at the federal level but can now engage at the state level. This will help open the sector to much-needed private-sector participation and investment.
If the law can further be interpreted to allow the private sector to handle railway operations while the government focuses on policymaking and regulations, experts with financial and technical capacity will be encouraged to undertake the huge capital investment the sector requires. This will also reduce the burden of cost on the government and increase the efficiency of railways.
On the part of allowing states generate, transmit, and distribute electricity in areas covered by the national grid, I have to admit I was a bit confused.
My initial reaction was shouldn’t states be more focused on areas not covered by the national grid? That is the unserved and the underserved area. Seeing as the law was not a typo, I had to dig deeper.
For this law, the previous provision before the amendment restricted state assemblies to making laws on the areas not covered by the national grid system. With the amendment, the wording was changed to expand state assemblies to make laws on areas that are covered by the national grid.
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