As part of the ongoing fifth amendment to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Ekiti State house of assembly has approved the establishment of a state police force and a state judicial council.
On Tuesday, the assembly, presided over by Speaker Funminiyi Afuye, unanimously agreed with the National Assembly that the procedures for the removal of the chief officers of the Houses of Assembly must be changed to maintain system stability.
In March 2022, the National Assembly passed a bill to change the Constitution and sent it to the House of Assembly for consideration.
Legislators approved a change to the subject of law reform in the country to radically improve the quality of laws that would direct the three branches of government, according to Gboyega Aribisogan, the assembly’s Leader of Government Business, who spoke to journalists.
At today’s plenary, the Assembly accepted some areas being evaluated for change to the 1999 constitution,” stated Speaker of the House Aribisogan. What we accomplished was merely a consent to the amendments made by the National Assembly, and no new changes were made.
To increase safety all around the country, one of these was the passage of a law requiring each state to establish a state police force. To maintain order and enhance government efficiency, we also passed a statute outlining the process for removing the Houses’ top officials.
To ensure the independence of the judiciary, the legislature also passed a measure allowing the state to create its own Judicial Council, modeled after the federal government’s National Judicial Council.
To ensure quality laws are made to guarantee good legislation and robust governance and equity in the system, “the Assembly also approved the amendment to the proper regulation of the law reform,” he added.
In addition to passing a bill to create three new local council development zones and two others, the Ekiti State Assembly also enacted the Ekiti State Economic Development Council (Amendment) Bill 2022, which regulates the Council’s membership and other operations.