NASS Set for 264 Amendments

The Senate has received 169 proposals from different interest groups, while the House of Representatives has 95 memoranda before it as the National Assembly gets set for the constitution amendment exercise scheduled to begin in October.

Our source investigations showed that as at Sept. 28, a total of 264 proposals had been submitted to the National Assembly Joint Committee on Constitution Amendment.

However, the requests for state creation, which were previously 57, had increased to 61 in the Senate, while 27 requests for new states dominate the 95 proposals before the House Ad-Hoc Committee on Constitution Alteration.

Nigeria currently has a 36-state structure, but all the six geo-political zones of the country are demanding additional states.

A breakdown of the figure before the House committee, which is headed by the Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, shows that the South-East leads with the highest number of requests so far. The geopolitical zone is asking for eight new states.

It’s closely followed by the North-Central, which wants seven new states.

One of the states being demanded by the zone is the South Plateau State, proposed to be carved out of the present Plateau State.

The South-West and South-South are requesting five new states each.

“Some of the requests before the two committees are the same; so at the point of harmonising their reports, the committees will delete double submissions,” an official said.

Similarly, 12 requests for new local government areas are before the Ihedioha committee.

“In May, two months before the House went on annual vacation, there were at least 10 bills on amendment referred to the committee,” the official added. “The number has swelled by now because between June and July, more bills were forwarded to the committee. Since resumption on Sept. 18, a number of bills have been sent to the committee.”

Furthermore, our source gathered that the House committee held a retreat for its members already to prepare them for the assignment. But one insider claimed that the committee was not sitting and idling as perceived in certain quarters.

Other items listed for debate during the exercise include the devolution of powers from the Federal Government to states, recognition of the six geopolitical zones in the constitution, the role of traditional rulers, and autonomy for local government councils.

Also on the agenda of the committee is the review of the Land Use Act, the National Youth Service Corps Act, Code of Conduct, fiscal federalism, immunity clause, the judiciary, rotation of executive offices among senatorial districts of a state and zones.

Others are the mayoral status of the Federal Capital Territory and inclusion of residency and indigenes provisions in the constitution.

Source: Punch