Some members of the House of Representatives have stated that the amended constitution will be ready and passed to President Muhammadu Buhari by the end of next month.
The lawmakers spoke to journalists on the sidelines of a South-West town hall meeting between legislators and their constituents organized by Daria Media and supported by the MacArthur Foundation on Saturday in Ibadan.
Senator Olubunmi Adetumbi of Ekiti North; Senator Tolu Odebiyi of Ogun West; Senator Kola Balogun of Oyo South; Mr Bamidele Salam of Osun State’s Ede North/Ede South/Egbedore/Ejigbo Federal Constituency; Isiaka Ibrahim of Ogun State’s Ifo/Ewekoro Federal Constituency; and Babajide Obanikoro of Eti-Osa Federal Constituency of Lagos State all participated in the town hall meeting.
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“The constitution will be amended before the end of this 9th National Assembly,” Salam stated. I want to reassure you that the amendment will be completed.
But let me assure you that amending a document such as a country’s constitution is a serious matter.
It is a task that necessitates the involvement of a wide range of critical stakeholders, opinion shapers, and institutions.
“Even if we don’t have cameras trained on what’s going on right now, that doesn’t mean nothing is going on.”
Hundreds of thousands of people sent in memoranda from all over the world, and members of the National Assembly themselves proposed amendments to the constitution.
“All of these will be aggregated into a sizable portion so that we don’t have a cumbersome set of clauses being pushed forward for amendment.”
We will begin to see more activity in this area very soon. We would have been able to see some things by the end of this year.
Some of those provisions, particularly those on which we have reached an agreement, will be sent to state houses of assembly very soon; they will be passed and sent, and others will follow suit in the final months of this 9th National Assembly’s tenure.”
When asked which aspects of the constitution the majority of Nigerians wanted to change, Salam said it depended on the geopolitical zone.
He stated that the South-West wanted devolution of powers and true federalism more than anything else, while the South-East wanted more states apart from federalism, and the issue of increasing the derivation fund from 13% to 50% was important to the people of the South-South.
The lawmaker also stated that the amendment would have an impact on the policing system, stating that it was inappropriate for the police to draw resources from states and local governments when those from whom they draw funds had not stated in their operations.
“It is my desire and the desire of my people that we unbundle the policing system in Nigeria,” Salam said. It is actually in our best interests.
When I see people who are afraid of that, I am perplexed. I’m not sure what anyone is afraid of in unbundling policing in order to have a more decentralized control system and a more decentralized funding system.
“I was the chairman of a local government, and we were buying tyres and batteries for police vehicles and paying them allowances despite the fact that we had no control over them.”
Even now, as a member of the National Assembly, the police in my constituency write me letters asking me to come and repair their vehicles.
I am optimistic that the amended constitution will take good care of this issue.”
Nigerians, according to Ibrahim, will be able to see the progress made by lawmakers toward amending the constitution as of January 27.
“The constitution will be sent to the President for his assent based on the work plan that was just announced.”
By that time, the Senate and House of Representatives would have sat and agreed on their positions, and the amended constitution would be sent to the President by the end of February,” he said.
Obanikoro stated that many constituents were unaware of the roles of lawmakers, which is why they brought so many personal problems to them to solve.
