SENATE PUSHES FOR NATIONAL COUNCIL OF TRADITIONAL RULERS
Read Time:3 Minute, 1 Second
The Senate has begun moves to establish the National Council for Traditional Rulers that would help accord formal recognition to them and facilitate the important roles and functions of monarchs.
Sponsored by Senator Simon Lalong, APC, Plateau South, the bill is for an Act to Establish the National Council for Traditional Rulers to accord formal recognition and facilitate their roles and functions and for other related matters, 2025 (SB. 546).
Senate President Godswill Akpabio referred the bill to the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service for further legislative action and report at plenary in six weeks.
In his presentation on the general principles of the bill, Lalong, a former Plateau State governor, said the bill was read for the first time in this chamber on Tuesday, October 8, 2024.
He said, “This bill seeks to establish the National Council for Traditional Rulers in order to accord formal recognition to, as well as facilitate the important roles and functions of our Traditional Rulers.
“Mr. President and my respected colleagues will recall that before the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates and the colony of Lagos to form Nigeria in 1914 by British colonial masters, various areas were a conglomeration of Kingdoms, Caliphates, Chiefdoms and Empires existing through natural indigenous forms of governance.”
Senator Lalong further said, “The Traditional authorities were very influential because they governed their societies by virtue of being the custodians of people’s culture, tradition, values, morals, religious beliefs etc. They served as vanguards in handling and containing communal conflicts, crises and insecurities among their diverse citizens. They also brokered and regulated commerce and industry through trade with other kingdoms.
“The glory of Traditional Rulers blossomed between the 1910s and the 1960s where Nigerian Traditional Rulers were very influential and in charge of the Native Authority (NA) Administration under the British colonial ‘indirect rules’ system. They served as the Executive (the NA council), the Legislature (making NA bye-laws) and the Judiciary (in charge of the NA, Police, Judges and Prisons). This format continued under the First Republic (1960-1966) with the roles of Traditional Rulers as members of the Regional House of Chiefs.
“The Traditional institution was however sidelined with General Ironsi’s 1966 Unitary Government, General Gowon’s and General Obasanjo’s 1967 and 1976 Local Government Reform Decrees that stripped Traditional Rulers of the powers and shared them between Federal, States and Local Governments.
“While the 1979 constitution restored the significance of our Traditional Institutions to a great extent, the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) relegated their relevance to the background.
“In summary, while there are no constitutional roles for our Traditional Rulers, there is also currently no law that provides the framework for our Traditional Rulers to operate despite their importance to society.
“It is in order to fill the current lacuna that I first of all sponsored a Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Alteration) Bill, (SB 532), which was read in this chamber on Thursday, 24th September 2024.
“It is also in furtherance of the above that this Bill (the National Council for Traditional Rulers of Nigeria establishment Bill, 2024) seeks to provide a framework for the Traditional Rulers to operate at the Federal level and contribute their quota to national stability and development as they did in the 1910s and 1960s.
“It is my conviction that even in these contemporary times, Traditional Rulers play a key role in the non-kinetic approach of the efforts by government at all levels to tackle our security challenges because they are ingrained in the fabrics of our societies.”
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0