By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The Senate ad-hoc committee on Constitution Review has set 24 months for itself to complete the exercise.
The panel had also declared that the committee, was not out to re-write the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
The Chairman of the panel who is also the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Jibrin Barau, stated this during the inaugural meeting of the 47-member Committee yesterday.
He said the committee would work in synergy with that of the House of Representatives for constitution alteration.
He said, “I wish to quickly remind you that we will work in synergy with our counterparts in the House of Representatives, and we will be very strategic in the conduct of our affairs.
“We will be guided by the laws and rules of legislative business, including precedence where it does not conflict with any known rule, while also being innovative where we can.
“The Committee will strongly consult and engage critical stakeholders in a way that will ensure that bills passed by the National Assembly will be approved by the State Houses of Assembly and assented to by Mr. President.
“It is important to note that the Committee is not constituted to rewrite the 1999 Constitution but to process proposed amendments to it, and we will strive to conclude this assignment within the next 24 months.
“The secretariat will submit a work plan and a process map with timelines to the Steering Committee which will be presented for consideration and approval by members in the next meeting.”
In his comment, a member of the committee, Senator Adamu Aliero (PDP Kebbi Central), admonished the members to avoid controversial issues that may not sail through if included in the exercise.
Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (APGA, Abia South), in his submission, advised the committee to use the template adopted by the 9th National Assembly by avoiding a lump sum document presentation made in the past and rejected presidential assents due to one or two controversial issues involved.
“Let us as done in the 9th National Assembly, treat all issues to be raised on separate bills for consideration, passage separately,” he said.
Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, said both senators, Ahmad Lawan and Aminu Tambuwal, were on the committee as former presiding officers of the National Assembly
Apart from the two, he said former governors are on the committee to bring their wealth of experience as state executives to bear in the national assignment.
He assured me that the assignment would not be business as usual because there were a lot of national issues to be dealt with.
