No going back on financial autonomy for state legislature, judiciary – Presidency

The Presidency says there is no going back on its decision to implement the newly signed Executive Order 10 which grants financial autonomy to two other arms of government – state legislature and judiciary, across the 36 states.

SEN. ITA ENANG, SSA TO THE PRESIDENT ON NIGER DELTA AFFAIRS

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger-Delta Affairs and Secretary of the Presidential Committee on implementation of the Executive Order 10, Senator Ita Enang, reiterated this position in Abuja at a press briefing during weekend.

The state governors were reported to have insisted on constitutional provisions in meetings with President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) on the issue, saying the order is not necessary. But Enang maintained that the order cannot be halted.

He said that the chairman of the committee, Abubakar Malami, and other members of the committee are working round the clock to ensure its implementation. He said “Since that law was not implemented, I mean that amendment from 2017, 2018, and in 2019, the president considered, as the head of the federal government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to which every member, of who has a duty to protect every Nigerian and each arm of government at the state and the federal levels, that it was necessary to set up an implementation committee to cause implementation.

“The Act was passed in 2017, amending section 121(3) of the Constitution, allowing for monies to go directly to the legislature of the state level and judiciary at the state level. Since it was not implemented”. He added that “Since the constitution when passed is not self-executing, then Mr. President has to set out the procedures for implementation. In efforts to set out the permit procedure for implementation, Mr President considered it appropriate to set up a Presidential Implementation Committee on the autonomy of state judiciary and state legislature,” the top presidential aide stressed.

Apart from Malami and Enang as the Chairman and the Secretary respectively, the committee has the Grand Kadi of the Federal Capital Territory, the Grand Kadi of Gombe State, President of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), the Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly among others.