As the National Assembly moves to review the 1999 Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), Nigerians have been assured
that the next constitution will be an all inclusive document that is in
line with democratic tenets as practiced in developed democracies.
The Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, gave the assurance onWednesday at the opening of the two-day North-East zonal sitting on the
1999 Constitution review in Bauchi.
Omo-Agege, who doubles as the chairman of the Constitution Review
Committee, declared that reviewing the constitution was long overdue,
adding that it took a long time to do so because it was not always easy
to review the constitution.According to Senator Omo-Agege, who was represented by Senator
Abubakar Kyari, before the constitution could be reviewed, it had to
undergo a lot of processes that had tobe in line with democratic
settings.
He informed that this time around, the National Assembly decided to
use the bottom up approach in the review process, adding that this was
being done by engaging Nigerians through public hearings across the
country before the national hearing.The approach adopted, according to him, was to give Nigerians the
opportunity of making their inputs into the new document to emerge at
the end of the review exercise.While calling on Nigerians to make their contributions to the review
exercise through submission of memoranda, the Deputy Senate President
assured that the National Assembly would correct all the lapses and
loopholes noticed in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) with a view to
giving every segment of the Nigerian society a sense of belonging.In his speech on the occasion, Bauchi State governor, Senator Bala
Abdulkadir Mohammed, called for fairness and equitable distribution of
the country’s resources, even as he sought for the creation of more
states and local government areas.According to him, with creation of more states and local government
areas, there would be more and even development across the country.Governor Mohammed also called for constitutional recognition and
roles for the traditional institutions, which he said had a vital role
to play in the overall wellbeing of the country.
“There should be fairness and equity in the distribution of the
country’s resources. We in Bauchi need additional local government
areas. There are states smaller in land mass and population to Bauchi
State but are getting more allocations because they have more local
government areas than us,” Mohammed said.He equally advocated by devolution of power to states, adding that
the new constitution should still recognise the three tiers of
government in Nigeria with states allowed to control the natural
resources in their domains and remitthe federal share to it.According to the governor, “there is the need for devolution of power because much power is concentrated at the centre.“We need to have a way out of the problems militating against our
unity and progress, we need to move ahead in terms of development.”In his goodwill message, Chairman, Conference of Speakers of State
Legislatures of Nigeria, Right Honourable Abubakar Y Suleiman, applauded
the move to amend the constitution, saying that as it is now the 1999
Constitution which has more of military inputs is being used in a
democratic dispensation.
Suleiman, who is the Speaker, Bauchi State House of Assembly, advised
that genuine agitations for peace and peaceful coexistence of the
people of Nigeria should be accommodated in the new constitution for
good and effective governance.According to him, “it will be our pride to have 2021 Constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria rather than what it is now, 21 years
after the return to democratic dispensation in the country.”
Suleiman then assured that the 36 States of Assembly are waiting to
see how the process will go, adding that they will not hesitate to do
the needful as soon as the constitution review exercise gets to the
stage of concurrence.
