PRESIDENT Muhammad Buhari has signed into law a constitution amendment allowing all states in the country to license, generate, transmit and distribute electricity.
This was disclosed in a tweet by presidential spokesperson Tolu Ogunlesi on Friday, March 17.
Ogunlesi tweeted: “President @MBuhari has signed 16 Constitution Amendment Bills into Law. By this signing, State Houses of Assembly & Judiciaries now have constitutionally-guaranteed financial independence, while Railways have moved from Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent List.
“Another landmark change: By virtue of the Presidential Assent, Nigerian States can NOW generate, transmit and distribute electricity in areas covered by the national grid. Wasn’t allowed pre-amendment. This is genuine, realistic Restructuring — through the Constitution.”
He added: “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.”
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M