STATE OF THE NATION ..........Buhari, govs and state debauchery
By Louis Odion, FNGE A critical pillar of democracy will be cemented if President Muhammadu Buhari followed through a course of action initiated last week. Apparently emboldened by a renewed mandate, he has finally raised a committee to implement the historic fourth amendment to the 1999 constitution with a view to ensuring better separation of powers in the Nigerian polity. Led by the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, the 16-man panel is to give teeth to Act No 16 of 2018 of the National Assembly granting full financial autonomy and independence to the Houses of Assembly as well as the judicial arm in the states. PMB earlier signed the act into law in June 2018. The long and short of it is that the credits of both arms will henceforth be paid directly to them as their expeditures will no longer be tied to the budgetary processes of the executive arm at the state level. To be sure, the fourth amendment would n...