Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has called for a review of extant federal
character laws.
He spoke on Saturday in Abuja at
the Young Parliamentarians Forum (YPF) National Strategy Meeting and Retreat.
Gbaja said as presently defined
in the constitution, the federal character is at variance with the nation’s
realities as it limits opportunities to geographical location.
The lawmaker said the existing
provisions did not consider gender, persons living with disabilities and age
classification.
He urged young legislators to
chart a course that would push the youths to take the mantle of leadership at
all levels of government.
“I think we should consider an
amendment in the constitution to the definition of federal character. Federal
Character within the context of appointments, infrastructure and the rest of it
in the constitution, as it is, is limited to where you are from, like your
ethnicity.
“The constitution says that
appointment and all those other things shall be based on Federal Character.
Federal Character as we know it now, we have the Igbos, we have the Hausas, the
Yorubas. There should be a geographical spread.
“It’s time we expand the definition of Federal
Character, the character of a nation is not just based on your tribe. It’s
based on religion, where you are from, sex, age. So when you are talking about
Federal Character, you look at all those things and they are what make up the
Federal Character.
“You talk about so and so
percentage of women, so and so percentage of youth. That is the true meaning of
Federal character and I think that is what should be reflected in the
constitution”, the Surulere representative added.
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The man commenting here addressed as Gbaja must be the most stupid Nigeria public officer. He is taking the youth for a ride and offending everybody's sensibilities. He is confusing equality or equal opportunities which is completely different from federal character proposition. Federal character can only dispebsed on geographical constituency basis which unfortunately currently is non-existent.
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