THE Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Idris Wase (APC, Plateau), who doubles as the Chairman of the House Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, disclosed on Friday during a meeting with speakers of State Houses of Assembly in Abuja that the Committee will recommend 28 amendments to the House for consideration.
In his opening remarks at the meeting, Hon. Wase said 1,980 recommendations were made by Nigerians in the 178 memoranda submitted to the committees after the zonal public hearing on the bills.
He stated that in the first batch, the Committee recommended 28 bills for harmonisation with the Senate, out of the 62 bills considered. He said that “eight (8) bills were rejected, twenty-five (25) bills were retained with modifications and the consideration of 3 bills were [sic] deferred.”
He said the thematic areas include issues bothering on local government administration and autonomy, the legislature, judicial reform, state creation, state police, devolution of powers, women and vulnerable groups.
Other areas are; strengthening of Institutions, good governance, political parties and electoral matters, traditional institution, Federal Capital Territory Administration, fundamental human rights and national security. He however did not disclose the bills that the committee rejected.
He said there is a need for synergy between the National Assembly and the State Houses of Assembly to ensure they deliver a working constitution as the current constitution is a product of “military exigency.” According to him, the inference to: ‘We the people’ in the document does not truly represent them.”
“We also are cognizant of the fact that we cannot work in isolation if we must achieve a concrete result and deliver on the promises we have made to Nigerians. Whatever we have done will still go through the State Houses of Assembly for their own input and vote.
“Hence the need for this collaborative synergy which will give us the opportunity to engage, consult and harmonise for a smoother, tidier and more efficient constitutional review.
“We have worked tirelessly to engage, negotiate, debate, lobby, review and persuade in order to reflect the various competing and contrasting aspirations of Nigerians of different leanings and backgrounds. One thing we are sure of is that no one has been left behind.
“We have aggregated all manners of proposals, sorted them out to meet the constitutional guidelines and criteria and have ultimately harmonized positions after lengthy debates and majority votes on several critical issues.”
