Schedule II to the Nigerian Constitution 1999
Below is the content for the Second Schedule to the Nigerian Constitution. This Scheduled is titled ‘Legislative Powers‘.
Part I:
Exclusive Legislative List
Item
- Accounts of the Government of the Federation, and of offices, courts, and
authorities thereof, including audit of those accounts. - Arms, ammunition and explosives.
- Aviation, including airports, safety of aircraft and carriage of passengers
and goods by air. - Awards of national titles of honour, decorations and other dignities.
- Bankruptcy and insolvency.
- Banks, banking, bills of exchange and promissory notes.
- Borrowing of moneys within or outside Nigeria for the purposes of the
Federation or of any State. - Census, including the establishment and maintenance of machinery for
continuous and universal registration of births and deaths throughout
Nigeria. - Citizenship, naturalisation and aliens.
- Commercial and industrial monopolies, combines and trusts.
- Construction, alteration and maintenance of such roads as may be declared
by the National Assembly to be Federal trunk roads. - Control of capital issues.
- Copyright. • Provisions for intellectual property
- Creation of States.
- Currency, coinage and legal tender.
- Customs and excise duties.
- Defence.
- Deportation of persons who are not citizens of Nigeria. • Power to deport citizens
- Designation of securities in which trust funds may be invested.
- Diplomatic, consular and trade representation.
- Drugs and poisons.
- Election to the offices of President and Vice-President or Governor and
Deputy Governor and any other office to which a person may be elected
under this Constitution, excluding election to a local government council or
any office in such council. - Evidence.
- Exchange control.
- Export duties.
- External affairs.
- Extradition.
- Fingerprints identification and criminal records.
- Fishing and fisheries other than fishing and fisheries in rivers, lakes,
waterways, ponds and other inland waters within Nigeria. - Immigration into and emigration from Nigeria.
- Implementation of treaties relating to matters on this list.
- Incorporation, regulation and winding up of bodies corporate, other than
co-operative societies, local government councils and bodies corporate
established directly by any Law enacted by a House of Assembly of a State. - Insurance.
- Labour, including trade unions, industrial relations; conditions, safety and
welfare of labour; industrial disputes; prescribing a national minimum wage
for the Federation or any part thereof; and industrial arbitration. - Legal proceedings between Governments of States or between the
Government of the Federation and Government of any State or any other
authority or person. - Maritime shipping and navigation, includinga. shipping and navigation on tidal waters;
b. shipping and navigation on the River Niger and its affluents and on any
such other inland waterway as may be designated by the National
Assembly to be an international waterway or to be an inter-State
waterway;
c. lighthouses, lightships, beacons and other provisions for the safety of
shipping and navigation;
d. such ports as may be declared by the National Assembly to be Federal
ports (including the constitution and powers of port authorities for
Federal ports). - Meteorology.
- Military (Army, Navy and Air Force) including any other branch of the
armed forces of the Federation. - Mines and minerals, including oil fields, oil mining, geological surveys and
natural gas. - National parks being such areas in a State as may, with the consent of the
Government of that State, be designated by the National Assembly as
national parks. - Nuclear energy.
- Passports and visas.
- Patents, trademarks, trade or business names, industrial designs and
merchandise marks.
• Provisions for intellectual property - Pensions, gratuities and other-like benefit payable out of the Consolidated
Revenue Fund or any other public funds of the Federation. - Police and other government security services established by law.
- Posts, telegraphs and telephones. • Telecommunications
- Powers of the National Assembly, and the privileges and immunities of its
members. Prisons.(deleted)- Professional occupations as may be designated by the National Assembly.
- Public debt of the Federation.
- Public holidays.
- Public relations of the Federation.
- Public service of the Federation including the settlement of disputes
between the Federation and officers of such service. - Quarantine.
Railways. (deleted)- Formation and Regulation of political parties.
- Service and execution in a State of the civil and criminal processes,
judgements, decrees, orders and other decisions of any court of law outside
Nigeria or any court of law in Nigeria other than a court of law established
by the House of Assembly of that State. - Stamp duties.
- Taxation of incomes, profits and capital gains, except as otherwise
prescribed by this Constitution. - The establishment and regulation of authorities for the Federation or any
part thereofa. to promote and enforce the observance of the Fundamental
Objectives and Directive Principles contained in this Constitution;
b. to identify, collect, preserve or generally look after ancient and
historical monuments and records and archaeological sites and
remains declared by the National Assembly to be of national
significance or national importance;
c. to administer museums and libraries other than museums and libraries
established by the Government of a state;
d. to regulate tourist traffic; and
e. to prescribe minimum standards of education at all levels. - The formation, annulment and dissolution of marriages other than
marriages under Islamic law and Customary law including matrimonial
causes relating thereto. - Trade and commerce, and in particulara. trade and commerce between Nigeria and other countries including
import of commodities into and export of commodities from Nigeria,
and trade and commerce between the states;
b. establishment of a purchasing authority with power to acquire for
export or sale in world markets such agricultural produce as may be
designated by the National Assembly;
c. inspection of produce to be exported from Nigeria and the
enforcement of grades and standards of quality in respect of produce
so inspected;
d. establishment of a body to prescribe and enforce standards of goods
and commodities offered for sale;
e. control of the prices of goods and commodities designated by the
National Assembly as essential goods or commodities; and
f. registration of business names. - Traffic on Federal trunk roads.
- Water from such sources as may be declared by the National Assembly to
be sources affecting more than one state. - Weights and measures.
- Wireless, broadcasting and television other than broadcasting and
television provided by the Government of a state; allocation of
wave-lengths for wireless, broadcasting and television transmission.
• Radio
• Telecommunications
• Television - Any other matter with respect to which the National Assembly has power
to make laws in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution. - Any matter incidental or supplementary to any matter mentioned
elsewhere in this list.
Part II:
Concurrent Legislative List
Extent of Federal and State Legislative Powers
- Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the National Assembly may by an
Act make provisions for –
a. the division of public revenue
i. between the Federation and the States;
ii. among the States of the Federation;
iii. between the States and local government councils;
iv. among the local government councils in the States; and
b. grants or loans from and the imposition of charges upon the Consolidated
Revenue Fund or any other public funds of the Federation or for the
imposition of charges upon the revenue and assets of the Federation for
any purpose notwithstanding that it relates to a matter with respect to
which the National Assembly is not empowered to make laws. - Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, any House of Assembly may make
provisions for grants or loans from and the imposition of charges upon any of the
public funds of that State or the imposition of charges upon the revenue and
assets of that State for any purpose notwithstanding that it relates to a matter
with respect to which the National Assembly is empowered to make laws. - The National Assembly may make laws for the Federation or any part thereof
with respect to such antiquities and monuments as may, with the consent of the
State in which such antiquities and monuments are located, be designated by the
National Assembly as National Antiquities or National Monuments but nothing
in this paragraph shall preclude a House of Assembly from making Laws for the
State or any part thereof with respect to antiquities and monuments not so
designated in accordance with the foregoing provisions. - The National Assembly may make laws for the Federation or any part thereof
with respect to the archives and public records of the Federation. - A House of Assembly may, subject to paragraph 4 hereof, make laws for that
State or any part thereof with respect to archives and public records of the
Government of the State. - Nothing in paragraphs 4 and 5 hereof shall be construed as enabling any laws to
be made which do not preserve the archives and records which are in existence
at the date of commencement of this Constitution, and which are kept by
authorities empowered to do so in any part of the Federation. - In the exercise of its powers to impose any tax or duty ona. capital gains, incomes or profits or persons other than companies; and
b. documents or transactions by way of stamp duties,
the National Assembly may, subject to such conditions as it may prescribe,
provide that the collection of any such tax or duty or the administration of the
law imposing it shall be carried out by the Government of a State or other
authority of a State. - Where an Act of the National Assembly provides for the collection of tax or duty
on capital gains, incomes or profit or the administration of any law by an
authority of a State in accordance with paragraph 7 hereof, it shall regulate the
liability of persons to such tax or duty in such manner as to ensure that such tax
or duty is not levied on the same person by more than one State. - A House of Assembly may, subject to such conditions as it may prescribe, make
provisions for the collection of any tax, fee or rate or for the administration of
the Law providing for such collection by a local government council.
• Subsidiary unit government - Where a Law of a House of Assembly provides for the collection of tax, fee or
rate or for the administration of such Law by a local government council in
accordance with the provisions hereof it shall regulate the liability of persons to
the tax, fee or rate in such manner as to ensure that such tax, fee or rate is not
levied on the same person in respect of the same liability by more than one local
government council.
10A Correctional Services
(1) The National Assembly may make laws for the Federation or any part thereof with respect to –
(a) correctional service and the establishment in any part of the Federation of correctional centres and custodial facilities; and
(b) the establishment of any authority for the management of federal correctional centres and custodial facilities in any part of the Federation.
(2) A House of Assembly may make laws for the State with respect to –
(a) correctional service and the establishment in that State of correctional centres and custodial facilities; and
(b) the establishment in that State of any authority for the management of State correctional centres and custodial facilities in any part of that State. - The National Assembly may make laws for the Federation with respect to the
registration of voters and the procedure regulating elections to a local
government council. - Nothing in paragraph 11 hereof shall preclude a House of Assembly from
making laws with respect to election to a local government council in addition to
but not inconsistent with any law made by the National Assembly. - The National Assembly may make laws for the Federation or any part thereof
with respect to
a. electricity and the establishment of electric power stations;
b. the generation and transmission of electricity in or to any part of the
Federation and from one State to another State;
c. the regulation of the right of any person or authority to dam up or
otherwise interfere with the flow of water from sources in any part of the
Federation;
d. the participation of the Federation in any arrangement with another
country for the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity for
any area partly within and partly outside the Federation;
f. the regulation of the right of any person or authority to use, work or
operate any plant, apparatus, equipment or work designed for the supply or
use of electrical energy. - A House of Assembly may make laws for the State with respect toa. electricity and the establishment in that State of electric power stations;
b. the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity to areasnotwithin that State; and (altered, 2023)
covered by a national grid system
c. the establishment within that State of any authority for the promotion and
management of electric power stations established by the State. - In the foregoing provisions of this item, unless the context otherwise requires,
the following expressions have the meanings respectively assigned to them-
• “distribution” means the supply of electricity from a sub- station to the
ultimate consumer;
• “management” includes maintenance, repairs or replacement;
• “power station” means an assembly of plant or equipment for the creation
or generation of electrical energy; and
• “transmission” means the supply of electricity from a power station to a
sub-station or from one sub-station to another sub-station, and the
reference to a “sub-station” herein is a reference to an assembly of plant,
machinery or equipment for distribution of electricity. - The National Assembly may make laws for the establishment of an authority
with power to carry out censorship of cinematograph films and to prohibit or
restrict the exhibition of such films; and nothing herein shalla. preclude a House of Assembly from making provision for a similar authority
for that State; or
b. authorise the exhibition of a cinematograph film in a State without the
sanction of the authority established by the Law of that State for the
censorship of such films. - The National Assembly may make laws for the Federation or any part thereof
with respect toa. the health, safety and welfare of persons employed to work in factories,
offices or other premises or in inter-State transportation and commerce
including the training, supervision and qualification of such persons;
b. the regulation of ownership and control of business enterprises throughout
the Federation for the purpose of promoting, encouraging or facilitating
such ownership and control by citizens of Nigeria;
c. the establishment of research centres for agricultural studies; and
d. the establishment of institutions and bodies for the promotion or financing
of industrial, commercial or agricultural projects. - Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, a House of Assembly may make
Laws for that State with respect to industrial, commercial or agricultural
development of the State. - Nothing in the foregoing paragraphs of this item shall be construed as
precluding a House of Assembly from making Laws with respect to any of the
matters referred to in the foregoing paragraphs. - For the purposes of the foregoing paragraphs of this item, the word
“agricultural” includes fishery.
20A. Railways
(1) The National Assembly may make laws for the Federation or any part thereof with respect to –
(a) construction and maintenance of inter-state railway tracks and infrastructures;
(b) establishment of a national railway agency for the regulation of railway operations throughout the Federation; and
(c) establishment and maintenance of a national railway carrier for inter-state transportation throughout the Federation.
(2) A House of Assembly of a State may make laws for the State with respect to the establishment, operation and maintenance of a State railway carrier within the State including the construction and maintenance of railway tracks and infrastructures within the State.
- The National Assembly may make laws to regulate or co-ordinate scientific and
technological research throughout the Federation.
• Reference to science - Nothing herein shall prelude a House of Assembly from establishing or making
provisions for an institution or other arrangement for the purpose of scientific
and technological research.
• Reference to science - The National Assembly may make laws for the Federation or any part thereof
with respect to statistics so far as the subject matter relates toa. any matter upon which the National Assembly has power to make laws; and
b. the organisation of co-ordinated scheme of statistics for the Federation or
any part thereof on any matter whether or not it has power to make laws
with respect thereto. - A House of Assembly may make Laws for the State with respect to statistics and
on any matter other than that referred to in paragraph 23(a) of this item. - The National Assembly may make laws for the Federation or any part thereof
with respect to trigonometrical, cadastral and topographical surveys. - A House of Assembly may, subject to paragraph 25 hereof, make laws for that
State or any part thereof with respect to trigonometrical, cadastral and
topographical surveys. - The National Assembly shall have power to make laws for the Federation or any
part thereof with respect to university education, technological education or
such professional education as may from time to time be designated by the
National Assembly. - The power conferred on the National Assembly under paragraph 27 of this item
shall include power to establish an institution for the purposes of university,
post-primary, technological or professional education. - Subject as herein provided, a House of Assembly shall have power to make laws
for the state with respect to the establishment of an institution for purposes of
university, technological or professional education. - Nothing in the foregoing paragraphs of this item shall be construed so as to limit
the powers of a House of Assembly to make laws for the State with respect to
technical, vocational, post-primary, primary or other forms of education,
including the establishment of institutions for the pursuit of such education.
Part III:
Supplemental and Interpretation
- Where by this Schedule the National Assembly is required to designate any
matter or thing or to make any declaration, it may do so either by an Act of the
National Assembly or by a resolution passed by both Houses of the National
Assembly. - In this Schedule, references to incidental and supplementary matters include,
without prejudice to their generality, references to:
a. offences;
b. the jurisdiction, powers, practice and procedure of courts of law; and
c. the acquisition and tenure of land.
Credit: constituteproject.org, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC)
Constitution content adapted from: here
