{"id":3509,"date":"2024-03-13T12:51:51","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T12:51:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/?p=3509"},"modified":"2024-03-13T12:51:54","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T12:51:54","slug":"national-assembly-kickstarts-constitution-review-as-house-of-reps-calls-for-memoranda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/national-assembly-kickstarts-constitution-review-as-house-of-reps-calls-for-memoranda\/","title":{"rendered":"National Assembly Kickstarts Constitution Review as House of Reps Calls for Memoranda"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 10th<\/sup> National Assembly has set the ball rolling for the sixth round of alteration to the 1999 Nigerian Constitution. The House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review has issued a Call for Memoranda, enjoining Nigerians to submit memoranda or proposals for further amendments to the Constitution on a variety of thematic areas including the Nigeria Police and Nigerian security architecture, public revenue, fiscal federation and revenue allocation, judicial reforms, electoral reforms, traditional institutions, gender related issues, process of State creation, State access to mining, among others, as well as any other matter that will promote good governance and welfare of all persons in the country on the principles of freedom, equality and justice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio on February 14, constituted\na 45-member Committee on Constitution Review chaired by the  Deputy President of the Senate, Jibrin Barau.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In the House of Representatives, the\nSpeaker, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, inaugurated the 43-member Committee on Constitution\nReview at an inaugural ceremony and citizens\u2019 engagement organised by the\nCommittee on February 26, 2024 in Abuja. The event was supported by Policy and\nLegal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development\nOffice (FCDO). A variety of stakeholders cutting across representatives of\nministries, agencies and departments of government, Speakers of State Houses of\nAssembly, traditional and religious leaders, civil society organisations, women\ngroups, media practitioners, ethnic nationalities, professional bodies,\nNigerians in diaspora, diplomats and development partners, among others, were\nin attendance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his welcome remarks, Chairman of the Constitution Review Committee\nand Deputy Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, identified certain\ncritical areas that will be considered in the Constitution review exercise,\nsuch as entrenching the roles of \ntraditional institutions in the Constitution, increasing the political\nrepresentation of women, State access to mines, among others. He assured that\nthe Committee will ensure that every voice is heard, every perspective is\nconsidered and that every citizen is empowered to participate in shaping the\nfuture of the nation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Executive Director of PLAC, Clement Nwankwo in his goodwill message, noted\nimproved representation of women in the Nigerian legislature, devolution of\npowers and the best structure for policing, as some of the key issues for\nConstitution review. He enjoined civil society to engage in the Constitution\nreview process, to ensure the delivery of meaningful reforms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery, noted that\nNigeria is a key democracy on a global level and that the United Kingdom was\nproud of its partnership with Nigeria. He expressed the United Kingdom\u2019s\nsupport to Nigeria as it embarks on another round of Constitution review\nexercise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The President of the Senate, represented by the Deputy President of the\nSenate, Jibrin Barau, noted that the Constitution review exercise is a\ntestament that the government is listening to the voice of the people, to\nensure that the Constitution reflects the will of the people. He enjoined\nNigerians to engage in the process with an open mind, to culminate in a more\njust and equitable Nigeria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his inaugural address, the Speaker noted Local Government Autonomy\nand State Police as some of the key issues in the Constitution review agenda. He\nalso urged the Constitution Review Committee to re-consider the issue of\nincreasing legislative seats for women, citizenship for foreign spouses of\nNigerian women, which did not pass in the Constitution review exercise of the 9th<\/sup>\nNational Assembly. He urged Nigerians not to shy away from the complexities and\ndebates that will arise from the review process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, he underscored the House\u2019s commitment to allow ample time\nfor robust public engagement, detailed analysis and conclusion of the proposals\nfor Constitution amendment in good time, to avoid issues occasioned by late\namendments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other highlights of the event include an Inaugural Lecture delivered by\nProf. Dakas C.J. Dakas and a Citizens\u2019 Engagement session that featured the following\nas panelists: Tor Tiv of Tiv Nation,  His\nRoyal Majesty, Prof. James Ayatse; Etsu Nupe of Nupe Kingdom, Alhaji Dr. Yahaya\nAbubakar, CFR; President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Yakubu Maikyau,\nOON, SAN; Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Martins\nAmaewhule; former House of Representatives Member, Hon. Uche Onyeagocha and\nExecutive Director of Cedarseed Foundation, Lois Auta. They identified and\nspoke to various issues that should be considered in the Constitution amendment\nprocess. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House has set a December 2025 deadline for the conclusion of the\nConstitution review exercise, to allow enough time for the process before the\ncommencement of the political campaign season ahead of the 2027 general\nelections commences. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 10th National Assembly has set the ball rolling for the sixth round of alteration to the 1999 Nigerian Constitution. The House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review has issued a Call for Memoranda, enjoining Nigerians to submit memoranda or proposals for further amendments to the Constitution on a variety of thematic areas including the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3509"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3519,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3509\/revisions\/3519"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}