By Oshone Cassidy
The 9th Senate, it appears, is back, ready to settle down and do serious business, apparently with what could be described as renewed vigour to give Nigeria a new constitution.
To buttress the seriousness the review deserves, the 58-member Constitution Review Committee of the Senate led by the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo Agege, All Progressives Congress, APC, Delta Central to handle all bills seeking alterations in the provisions of the 1999 Constitution has commenced the process, with a call for Memoranda.
Consequently, the Committee has asked the general public, Executive and Judicial bodies, Civil Society Organizations, professional bodies as well as other interest groups to submit memoranda or proposals for further alteration(s) of the 1999 Constitution.
As Senate Ad-Hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution commenced its work, power devolution, State Creation, Electoral Reform to strengthen INEC to deliver transparently credible free and fair elections; Nigerian Police and Nigerian Security Architecture, Comprehensive Judicial Reforms, others top Agenda.
In a statement he personally signed last month, Senator Omo- Agege said that also to be in the front burner of discourse are Gender Equality for women and girls; the Federal Structure and Power Devolution; Local Government/ Local Government Autonomy; Public Revenue, Fiscal Federalism and Revenue Allocation; Socio-economic and cultural rights as contained in Chapter 2 of the Constitution; Strengthening the Independence of oversight institutions and agencies created by the Constitution or pursuant to an Act of the National Assembly
Others are Residency and Indigene Provisions; Immunity and the National Assembly.
The Committee as at Wednesday- day, 9th September, got 18 additional Memoranda which were in addition to 50 others earlier collected by the committee, making the total number to rise to 68 now.
Notable among Memoranda collected by the Secretariat of the committee were those from the Christian Association of Nigeria ( CAN), Movement for creation of Zuma State out of Niger State, Movement for creation of Savanah State out of Gombe, Taraba and Adamawa States.
Others are Yiaga Africa, Okun Development Association, Benue State Government, Concerned Nurses Association of Nigeria, Urhobo Progressive Union, Zontai International etc.
Desirous to deliver, Senator Ovie Omo- Agege on 20th August promised that the report of the Constitution Review Committee would be presented to the Senate at plenary in the first quarter of 2021.
According to Omo- Agege, the Committee prior to the presentation at Plenary would have rounded off its assignment.
The Deputy President of the Senate who spoke at the first meeting of the Ad hoc Committee of the Senate on the review of the 1999 Constitution after its inauguration on 12th of February, 2020 by the President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, the Deputy President of the Senate promised that the process would be all-inclusive and with full participation.
Omo- Agege said that “ In pursuant of this, our secretariat has obtained all the Bills for the alteration of the Constitution referred so far to our counterparts in the House of Representatives and we have transmitted ours to them for further legislative activities.
“The secretariat has been working and has identified many areas that need review in the 1999 Constitution from the engagements in the past and this include:
1. The need to make the Constitution more gender-friendly and affirm equal rights to women and girls.
2. The need to strengthen the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Federal Character Commission and other oversight agencies.
3.The need to address the challenges of residency and indigeneship.
4. The need to address the federal structure of the country to be in tandem with our history and modern realities.
5. The need to revisit socio-economic and cultural rights as entrenched in Chapter 2 of the Constitution as fundamental principles of state policy.
6. Electoral reforms veto make our electoral system credible, free and fair.
7. Fiscal federalism and revenue allocation.
8. Comprehensive Judicial reforms.
“Presented before you is a work plan that has been proposed for your input. It is more of a road map of the Committee with the aim of presenting our report to the Senate plenary at the end of the first quarter of 2021.”
He said that the Committee would also liaise with members of the House of Representatives, the State Houses of Assembly as well as collaborate and build consensus with all stakeholders to ensure synergy, just as he disclosed that the Report of 2014 Conference would form a veritable resource material needed for the assignment.
Speaking further, Omo- Agege said, “As you all know, we are on recess but the fact that we are here today to deliberate on the assignment of the Constitutional Review underscores the importance that we attach to this responsibility.
“The steering committee of the Ad hoc Committee comprising of all Principal Officers of the Senate held two meetings on the 26th of February, 2020 and on the 3rd of June, 2020, respectively, to work out the modalities for carrying out this very important national assignment.
“Among the major fallout or outcome of the meetings were that the El-Rufai report on restructuring and the 2014 Constitutional Conference report were recommended to be part of the Committee’s working documents which has been obtained by the secretariat of the Committee for duplication and circulation to members. As we await the full resumption of our activities at the Committee level, compilation of all the Constitution alteration Bills referred to the Committee and gazetted are being collated for the process of the Committee in due course.
“This assignment is one that must be carried out jointly with the House of Representatives, apart from other stakeholders in the various Houses of Assembly and members of the public. Hence, I am in touch with my counterpart in the House to work out the modalities for a harmonious working relationship.
“Over the years the National Assembly had identified a piecemeal approach to the alteration of the 1999 Constitution. This Constitution review process presents another opportunity for Nigerians to look at these issues again. We are aware that the process of making or altering the Constitution is as important as the content. This review process will therefore be guided by the principle of inclusivity and participation. The secretariat has put in place a mechanism that the majority of Nigerians are abreast with this Constitution review exercise to that extent, it has conducted a mapping of stakeholders that have been engaging in the Constitution review exercise since 1999.
“We have collated previous reports such as the 2014 Constitutional Conference Report and the El-Rufai’s report on restructuring which are being analyzed. We have designed several outreach programmes including the utilization of social media to receive and collate the views and opinions of Nigerians. At the end, our technical team will analyse the contributions and turn them into operations for the relevant sections of the Constitution.
“In addition, Distinguished Senators and members of the House of Representatives have initiated Constitution alteration Bills. All of them will be subjected to the relevant legislative process. It is in line with this that the Committee is working on virtual conferencing to facilitate its work in view of the COVID-19 pandemic so as to ensure that our meetings within and outside the National Assembly premises are not unduly interrupted and frustrated from holding.”
This seriousness to deliver an amended constitution to Nigeria and Nigerians first reared its head when the President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan declared during his scorecard presentation to journalists in Abuja last year that the 9th Senate upon resumption from the Christmas and New year break, would pay serious attention to the Electoral Reforms Amendment Bills and Amendment of the 1999 Constitution.
Lawan said, “The Electoral Reforms Amendment Bill is also a priority before the Senate because of the urgent need to improve our electoral processes and secure the democratic gains that we have made in the Fourth Republic. We want to pass the Bill well ahead of the next electoral cycle in 2023 and avoid the political heat and pitfalls that imperilled the efforts of the eight National Assembly which passed the same bill close to the last general elections.
“We are not oblivious of the interest and concerns some of these bills have generated from the public. But we must not forget that lawmaking is a rigorous process that allows for all sides of the argument to be heard and the true will of the people established before a bill becomes law.”
It would be recalled that the success in the electoral reforms became very obvious and widely acknowledged after the 2011 general election, this was after the Sixth National Assembly, broke the jinx of constitution amendment in Nigeria.
Also recall that at the beginning of the Seventh Senate, former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark while Inaugurating the Constitution Review Committee, May 2012 that was headed by former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, had emphasised the seriousness of the Exercise and said that constitution amendment remained one of the priorities of the Senate, adding, ‘’let me note that constitution amendment remains one of the top priorities of the Seventh Senate.”
To be continued
