Nigeria Content Online

The
Speakers of the 36 state Houses of Assembly are scheduled to meet with
members of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Constitution Review
(JCCR) tomorrow, in Abuja, as part of efforts to fast track the
endorsement of the amendment of the 1999 Constitution.

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Usman Nafada, disclosed this to journalists at the weekend.

The meeting, according to Mr. Nafada, will take a closer look at the amended sections of the Constitution by the 88-member JCCR.

Both the Senate
and the House had, two weeks ago, endorsed the amendment of a total of
78 sections of the Constitution, as recommended by the 14-member
conference committee of both chambers that harmonised reports earlier
tabled by their ad-hoc committees.

The amended
sections will, however, become law if at least two-third (about 24
states) of the state Houses of Assembly approve them.

Mr. Nafada, who
heads the 44-member House ad-hoc committee, said the leadership of the
National Assembly convened the meeting to x-ray the merits and high
points of the harmonised document in order to facilitate speedy
resolution by the 36 state Assemblies in the country.

The Deputy Speaker
said he, alongside the Senate President, David Mark; Speaker of the
House, Dimeji Bankole; as well as the chairman of the Senate ad-hoc
committee on the review of the constitution, Ike Ekweremadu, will lead
the National Assembly delegation to the meeting.

The Attorney
General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Bello Adoke, is
expected to lead the Federal Government delegation to the meeting.

Fast track the passage

The Deputy Speaker
said himself (Nafada) will present the opening remarks detailing the
various stages of the amendment process, to provide a clearer
understanding of how the exercise started and why it took the various
resolutions on all the issues in the amendment; while Mr. Ekweremadu
will give a step by step account of the various clauses in the
amendment.

“The time between
now and the next general election is short, hence the need for the
meeting to fast track the passage of the amendment in order to
strengthen the democratic process,” he added.

He said there was
need to conclude the passage of the harmonised Constitution so that the
National Assembly can concentrate properly on the resolution of all the
issues in the Electoral Act on which work is over 80 percent complete.

Mr. Nafada also explained that since the National Assembly has
resolved to create additional states, the speedy passage of the
Constitution and the Electoral Act will provide enough allowance to
give proper attention to the issue of state creation.