No Going Back On Buhari’s Fisical Autonomy- Malami Insists

Nigeria’s Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has revealed that the federal government will not backtrack on the latest approved executive order seeking to implement financial autonomy for state legislature and judiciary.

Speaking days after Kayode Fayemi, chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), met with  President Muhammadu Buhari on appeal to suspend the executive order, Malami said the government will gazette the order after consultations with governors.  In a statement by Umar Gwandu, Malami’s spokesman, he explained further that financial autonomy for the state legislature and the judiciary remains sacrosanct.

He said the federal government will, however, implement the order through modalities reached with the governors.

“The re-enforcement of the constitutional provisions on the autonomy of the state legislature and judiciary as contained in Section 121(3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria necessitated the Executive Order No 0010,” the statement read.

“While congratulating Nigerians on this landmark historic achievement geared toward engendering democratic principles at the grassroots, the Minister called on more inter-agency support for the Order which he said will accelerate development Nigerian masses have been clamouring for.”In furtherance of the implementation of the Order, the Federal Government and Nigerian Governors’ Forum are jointly working on modalities for effective implementation of the order.”

He said the end result of the consultation with governors would reflect their “valuable submissions” to ensure “practicable implementation” of the executive order.