Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu
The National Assembly Wednesday raised two panels made up of 91 members to carry out a fresh review of the 1999 Constitution (as amended.)
Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, is chairman of the Senate committee that consists of 47 members, while his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, equally heads a similar committee in the lower chamber. The Ihedioha committee has 44 members.
The membership of the Senate committee is higher than that of the House of Representatives because the upper chamber appointed Senators George Akume (ACN, Benue), Ayoola Agboola (PDP, Oyo) and Mohammed Sani Saleh (CPC, Kaduna) to represent what it called “special interest”.
Both committees were charged by the National Assembly to identify the areas of the constitution that required “urgent” amendment and work as a team towards actualising the exercise.
The Senate had on resumption from its six weeks' recess on Tuesday charted a roadmap that makes a fresh constitution amendment exercise its top priority.
Other members of the committee are Senators Uche Chukwumerije (PDP, Abia), Bello Mohammed Tukur (PDP, Adamawa), Chris Ngige (ACN, Anambra), Ita Enang (PDP, Akwa Ibom), Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi), Heineken Lokpobiri (PDP, Bayelsa), Banabas Gemade (PDP, Benue), Ahmed Zannah (PDP, Borno) and Victor Ndoma-Egba (PDP, Cross River).
Senators James Manager (PDP, Delta), Christopher Nwankwo (PDP, Ebonyi), Odion Ugbesia (PDP, Edo), Anthony Adeniyi (ACN, Ekiti), Ayogu Eze (PDP, Enugu), Joshua Lidani (PDP, Gombe), Chris Anyanwu (APGA, Imo), Abdulaziz Usman (PDP, Jigawa), Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed (CPC, Kaduna) and Bello Hayatu Gwarzo (PDP, Kano) are also on the committee.
Also on the list are Senators Abu Ibrahim (PDP), Abubakar Atiku Bagudu (PDP, Kebbi), Smart Adeyemi (PDP, Kogi), Mohammed Shaba Lafiagi (PDP, Kwara), Ganiyu Solomon (ACN, Lagos), Suleiman Adokwe (PDP, Nasarawa), Dahiru Kuta (PDP, Niger), Adegbenga Kaka (ACN, Ogun), Boluwaji Kunlere (LP, Ondo), and Sola Adeyeye (ACN, Osun).
Other members are: Senators Olufemi Lanlehin (ACN, Oyo), Joshua Dariye (LP, Plateau), Magnus Abe (PDP, Rivers), Umaru Dahiru (PDP, Sokoto), Abubakar Tutare Umar (PDP, Taraba), Alkali Jajere (ANPP, Yobe), Ahmed Rufa’i Sani (ANPP, Zamfara) and Philip Aduda (PDP, FCT).
All the female senators are co-opted into the committee. They are Senators Nkechi Nwaogu (PDP, Abia, representing the South-east), Helen Esuene (PDP, Akwa Ibom, representing South-south), Nenadi Usman (PDP, Kaduna, representing North-west), Oluremi Tinubu (ACN, Lagos, representing South-west), Zainab Kure (PDP, Niger, representing North-central), and Aisha Alhassan (PDP, Taraba, representing North-east).
The fresh constitutional amendment in the eyes of the Senate, will address contentious questions such as: “Should we allow State Police? Will it enhance policing duties and reduce criminality in the country? Is the current revenue formula equitable? Will a change in favour of the states enhance the deliverables to the people? Should power distribution be on the Exclusive Legislative List? Shouldn’t states that invest in power generation be allowed to distribute? Is it necessary to create new states? Will it bring government nearer to the people and address cries of marginalisation? How effective are the local governments? Should they be made to function independently of the states? Is the Joint State/Local Governments account still necessary?”
Unveiling the names of members of its Ad Hoc Committee on Constitution Review, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Tambuwal, said membership was drawn from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on the basis of one member each.
The House had on June 28, this year unfolded a new legislative agenda, in which it proposed among other things, the process of reviewing the constitution.
Tambuwal, who had before now emphasised the importance of amending the constitution, said the process would address several areas of concern such as the constitutional provisions affecting the budgetary process and impacting on the application and implementation of the budget.
This includes the provisions of section 81(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that allows the president to lay the budget at any time during the year.
The amendment, Tambuwal said, had become necessary if Nigeria must achieve the internationally recognised best practice of laying the budget before the parliament at least three months before the end of a fiscal year.
The House is also seeking to amend the provisions of section 82 of the constitution that authorises the president to incur expenditure up to six months after the budget is supposed to have been passed. With the amendment, expenditure will be limited to not more than three months of the beginning of the financial year.
“The Seventh House of Representatives will continue the effort at constitution reforms already begun by the Sixth National Assembly. The successful model of technical cooperation and collaboration with the Senate which led to the first ever amendment to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 in a civilian setting, will be adopted and fine-tuned to again achieve results.
“The constitution amendment process will evolve from the yearnings and aspirations of our people and the House recognises the concerns of Nigerians on several issues, including land reforms, electoral reforms, budgetary process, fiscal federalism, local government and states creation requests and process, process of constitution amendment, citizenship and the indigene issue that have been responsible for conflict in several communities across Nigeria.
“The House will review the constitution in all relevant areas to facilitate the implementation of the House of Representatives’ legislative agenda and in line with the aspirations of Nigerians. To this end, the House will set up a Constitution Review Committee to immediately begin work on these issues,”
THISDAY
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