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The House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review will in the last two weeks of September 2024 consider draft bills from memoranda submitted to it for amendment and alterations to the 1999 Constitution.
Recall that the Deputy Speaker and Chairman of the House Constitution Review Committee, Benjamin Kalu had on Friday, May 24, 2024, disclosed that the panel had received a total of 305 memoranda and 112 bills seeking amendments to the constitution on key governance issues of governance including fiscal federalism, local government autonomy, power devolution and mayoral status for the Federal Capital Territory, among others.
Although a date is yet to be fixed for the exercise, Sunday PUNCH gathered that the committee will meet to receive briefings from its consultants on the progress made so far.
A member of the committee, who spoke with our correspondent in confidence because he is not the image maker of the panel, noted that the September meeting is a precursor to the adoption of the first constitutional draft proposal.
He said, “The bills and memoranda are many as you know. The committee had to prioritise them not necessarily in order of importance because we believe every memorandum is as important as the other. The committee will meet to receive briefings from our consultants before the end of this month (September).
“The purpose of the meeting is to consider draft bills. After this meeting, the committee will hold a strategy session for the sole purpose of ensuring efficiency in our work. The secretariat will drive this process to ensure that we approve the first draft proposal.”
On the items listed on the first proposal, the lawmaker said “They are issues Nigerians are passionate about. They include the controversial state police, autonomy for local government, electoral reforms, power decentralisation and resource control.”
Another member of the committee told our correspondent that “In the wisdom of the leadership of both the Senate and the House of Representatives Committees on Constitution Review, experts on various themes were engaged to drive the process, taking into consideration the peculiarities of the Nigerian state.”
He continued, “We are very confident of the success of this exercise. As lawmakers, we did not make this our job alone. We engaged highly respected Nigerians to handle the various themes as identified in the bills and memoranda
“For instance, Local government matters are being handled by Prof Nuhu Jamo, the judiciary by Barr Mike Osuman, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria; electoral matters by Samson Osagie; state police by Usman Ibrahim and gender issues by Prof Anthonia Simbine.
The duo of Mr Chris Uche, a senior lawyer and Prof Yusuf Yusuf will handle human rights and special matters respectively,”
He urged Nigerians to be patient, noting that constitutional amendment issues take more than emotions to realise.
“We all want great things for our country and this is possible via amendments to the relevant sections of the constitution. But this is not about emotions. Whatever we agree on as a parliament, we need two-thirds support of the State Assemblies to proceed. So, Nigerians have to speak with their representatives at the grassroots too. In the end, it takes more than the House of Representatives and the Senate to give them a robust constitution,” he added.
