Senate Holds Public Hearings on Constitution Review in Lagos, Enugu

The Senate will today, Friday, kick off its public hearing on the review of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) in Lagos, Enugu and other geopolitical zones, except the North West. 

The public hearing is aimed at subjecting proposals for the creations of states, 18 additional local governments, establishment of state police and far-reaching reforms of the electoral system, among others, to public discourse. 

The upper chamber has also scheduled to simultaneously hold similar public hearings in other geopolitical zones across the federation with the exception of the North-west.

The postponement of the Northwest public hearing was due to the demise of Kano’s prominent businessman and philanthropist, Alhaji Aminu Alhassan Dantata, which occurred on Saturday.

Leader of the Senate and Chairman, South-west Zone, Constitution Review Committee, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele reeled out the programmes for the two-day zonal public hearing on Thursday, noting that the forum offers Nigerians the opportunity to contribute to thorny issues affecting the country’s governance structure.

Receiving in audience members of the Senate Committee on Constitution Amendment, who were on a courtesy visit to him, on Thursday, ahead of the regional public hearing holding at the International Conference Centre, Enugu, Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State pushed for State Creation, State Police and Rotational Presidency.

The 10th Senate had constituted the Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution on February 14, 2024, a 45-man committee with the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau Jubrin and Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele as Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively.

The committee had subsequently received diverse proposals on inclusive reforms, institutional reforms, security and policing, fundamental rights and objectives, system and structure of government, reforms of the judiciary, roles of the traditional institutions in government, reforms of the local government, reforms of the fiscal environment and electoral reforms, among others. 

Consequent upon this development, Bamidele revealed that the public hearing of the South-west Zone would be held in Water Crest Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos between Friday and Saturday, saying it would offer Nigerians the opportunity to contribute to debates on these areas of consideration.

One of the proposals, according Bamidele, is the bill seeking to alter the 1999 Constitution to provide for the establishment of state police or other state government security agencies.

Likewise, Bamidele revealed that the bill seeks to alter the 1999 Constitution to establish the State Security Council to advise State Governors on matters relating to public security and safety among the federating units.

Bamidele cited another bill, which seeks to transfer labour, industrial relations, industrial disputes and minimum wage from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List in the constitution. 

He said: “There is a proposal bill to transfer control of interstate waterways from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List, thereby granting both the federal and state governments the power to legislate on matters relating to shipping and navigation on interstate waterways.”

He also said that "There is a proposal to ensure that every local government in each state has at least one member representing the local government in the House of Assembly to ensure equity, fairness and attract democratic dividends to inhabitants of each local government of the State.”

Under electoral reforms, Bamidele cited different proposals seeking independent candidature for qualified citizens to elective positions and diaspora voting for Nigerians living outside the country.

Also, he mentioned requests for the consequential reforms of the country’s fiscal environment, which in the main sought a timeframe within which the President or a State Governor shall lay the Appropriation Bill before the National Assembly or House of Assembly.

“The proposals further canvass the period within which the President or Governor may authorise the withdrawal of monies from the Consolidated Revenue Fund in the absence of an Appropriation Act from six months to three months.

“The proposals seek to provide for revision of the derivation formula by including other revenues generated within each state of the Federation,” the zonal chairman of the Constitution Review Committee notes.

Bamidele also cited a proposal seeking to reposition political parties to resolve every pre-election dispute internally without recourse to the court.

While there are 18 requests for the creation of local government areas nationwide, Bamidele said the committee had received 31 proposals for the creation of additional states with six from North-west, eight from North-central, five from South-east, six from North-east, six from South-south and four from South-west.

Bamidele further revealed that seven requests for the creation of new local government areas had been received from North-west; five from North-central, one from North-east; three from South-south; one from South-east and one from South West.

In Enugu, Governor Peter Mbah called for the creation of an additional state for the South East, to place it at par with the other six geopolitical zones.

Mbah also made a case for rotational presidency and state police to give every part of the country a sense of belonging and secure the nation better.  

Mbah said, “One that excites us most is the idea of state policing. We have advocated ardently that there is need for states to create state police services, just as you have the the federal police, but with defined jurisdictions and operational parametres.

“We think that this is overdue and there could not be better time for that given the fragilities we have in our various communities. The state police will be a truly welcome development in our Constitution.

“The South East suffers injustice. The fact that across the different geopolitical zones, the South East is the only one with five states. So that is also what we believe will be corrected in this process of amendment.

“Of course, the idea of rotational presidency is important too. We think that, that obviously would provide South East and every other region a chance at the presidency.

“So, these are areas we believe are commendable and we will be presenting our position formarly in the hearing tomorrow and the subsequent days,” he said.

Speaking earlier, Senate Deputy Chief Whip and leader of the delegation, Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi, said the Committee was in Enugu to get the inputs of the people of the South East into the constitution amendment process.

“It goes without saying that the 1999 constitution has received a lot of criticism from Nigerians, including that it is the product of military dictatorship and, as such, does not represent the intrest of all the segments that make up Nigeria. As a result of these criticisms. There is a need to alter the constitution from time to time.

“We pray that this engagement will afford us the people of South East the opportunity to right some wrongs as a result of the position of the 1999 constitution, which we the people of South East are crying foul that we are being marginalised in so many areas, particularly as it relates to the number of states, juxtaposing same with other geopolitical zones of Nigeria,” Nwebonyi stated.