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TODAY
December 28, 2020
The perennial constitution amendment exercise by the National Assembly is characterised by proposals that keep resurfacing despite gulping billions of naira yearly, an analysis has shown.
The federal parliament had from the 5th to the current 9th National Assembly made several attempts to amend some provisions of the 1999 Constitution to no avail.
At every session, the parliament officially spends N1 billion shared equally between the Senate and the House of Representatives.
There are reports that the lawmakers spend more than what is appropriated for the exercise.
While some amendments were successful, several others suffered serial failures but kept appearing in new proposals.
The foundational problems of Nigeria remain topical on the agenda, though with conflicting perspectives. However, they are problems we must resolve. It will be recalled that against the backdrop of resource control and overall restructuring of the state system, the incumbent political leaders had 2015 before their election made restructuring a manifesto item. According to the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) manifesto, an APC government would “Initiate action to amend our Constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties and responsibilities to states and local governments in order to entrench true Federalism and the Federal spirit” among other constitutional reforms.
There was obvious hesitation on the part of the government once it assumed office. It took years in office to activate the El-Rufai Committee on restructuring. The committee carried out its consultation and compacted its report submitted since January 2018, which is yet to be implemented.
By Myke Agunwa
The National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Prince Uche Secondus has stated that by President Muhammadu Buhari shunning the summon by the National Assembly on the escalating security challenges in the country, he has shown total disregard for the welfare of the citizens.
He added that the President further demonstrated his disdain for the people by shunning the meeting with the members of the National Assembly who are the direct representatives of the people after he had earlier committed himself to be present at the meeting.
Secondus made the disclosure during a media chat on Thursday at Trasncorp Hilton, Abuja while marking his three years in office as the chairman of the PDP.