Joint Committee extends FCT LG Chairmen Tenure.
The tenure of Local Government Chairmen in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, has been formulated for an extension by the joint Senate and House of Representatives Committees on the Independent National Electoral Commission and Electoral Matters.
The committee noted that other elected officials of the six area councils which make up the FCT would also benefit from the proposed amendment. The extension of office is from three years to four years.
The proposed extensions are contained in recommended modifications to the Electoral Act. The committee is prepared to submit before Senators and House of Reps members for consideration and approval later this month.
The committees also proposed that the amount to be spent by candidates seeking elective public office be N10bn.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Kabiru Gaya, confirmed this development, saying, “Since the National Assembly legislate on the Federal Capital Territory, we amended the tenure of the local government chairmen within the FCT.
“We believe that if we leave a chairman to serve for three years, they cannot record any concrete achievement.
“They would be undergoing the learning process in their first year and start implementing their projects in the second year, while they will be preparing for elections in the third year. This means that they have just one year to work effectively.
“However, if we increase their tenure to four years, they will have two out of the four years to work. That is why we have proposed that the term for local government chairmen should be increased to four years.
“We are therefore appealing to all the governors to comply with the new provisions because we don’t have the powers over them. We can only appeal to them.”
“We looked at the current situation, and we have come to the conclusion that someone contesting the election as president of Nigeria should spend more than N5bn.
“We have recommended N10bn for the Presidential candidate while the amount that could be spent by those contesting elections as governors and legislators have also been reviewed upward.
“On personal donations to presidential candidates, we have recommended that an individual could donate up to N10m for a candidate either for the presidential or governorship election because the current N1m benchmark is no longer realistic.”
