Senate resumes, debates constitutional review

Senate resumes, debates constitutional review By Okechukwu Jombo The Senate will today resume sitting after a two weeks sallah break to commence discussion on the report of the National Assembly constitutional review committee amongst other matters They will also look at the report of the conference committee on the discrimination against persons with disabilities and that of judiciary human rights and legal matters on cyber crime which had been laid on the table before the break. The National Assembly proceeded on a combined two-week break for the country’s 54th independence anniversary and Eid-el Kabir on Tuesday. The Deputy Speaker of the House, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, who doubles as the Chairman, Ad Hoc Committee on Constitution Review,had announced that the two chambers had harmonised their differences on the proposed amendments. He said, “The harmonised conference report is ready and we shall begin voting after the Sallah break. We will take a date after resumption to vote to pass the report. Please, all members should be aware of this and come prepared for theý voting when we resume.” The House had earlier passed 77 new clauses to the constitution, while the Senate passed its own recommendations as well. Among the highlights of the recommendations passed by the House were the removal of immunity (against criminal prosecution) for the President and governors, the rejection of state police and the approval of independent candidature during elections. It also approved to split the offices of the Minister of Justice and the Attorney-General of the Federation, while the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation was placed on First Line Charge of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation. However, theý Senate and the House had disagreed on granting financial autonomy to local government councils. While the House endorsed autonomy for the councils by scrapping the controversial local government/state joint account, the Senate rejected autonomy for the councils. Under Section 9 of the constitution, two-thirds of all members of each arm of the National Assembly will mandatorily ý vote to endorse a proposal before it can pass an amendment to the constitution. This implies that 240 out of the 360 members of the House of Representatives must endorse every proposal before it can be included in the new constitution. Similarly, 73 out of 109 senators must vote to endorse all new proposals to the constitution. In addition, two-thirds (24) out of the 36 state Houses of Assembly must also approve the amendments passed by the National Assembly as the final phase of the amendment process. It will be recalled that the Deputy President of the Senate and Chairman Senate Committee on Constitution Review, Senator Ike Ekweremadu had on Wednesday, 5 June 2013 presented before the Senate, the Report of the Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended). The comprehensive and well detailed report which was signed by 49 other Senators contained results of retreats and outcomes of opinion polls conducted in the course of the review process. It also included reports on issues for reform like change of tenure of the office of the President and financial autonomy for local governments to mention just a few. Some issues raised for reform such as creation of new States and establishment of State Police met dead ends in the Senate. In his presentation, the Deputy President of the Senate noted that Constitutional review is a continuous process and that the alterations done over the years have helped to strengthen the country’s democratic system. On States creation, Sen. Ekweremadu stated that all the 61 memorandums submitted failed to meet the Constitutional requirement for its creation under section 8 (1) of the 1999 constitution. Consideration of the Report was however, deferred to another legislative day giving the exigency of the subject matter and the need for every member of the Senate to critically study the Report to enable them make meaningful inputs on the date slated for consideration. Other matters such as the Petroleum industry Bill will come up sometime within the week in the senate for discussion