New Telegraph

Constitution review: State police, power devolution top requests

 

…as memoranda hit 100

Requests for creation of state police and devolution of powers have dominated requests from various interest groups, who have submitted memoranda to the Senate Committee on Review of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). This is as the Constitution Review committees from both Chambers of the National Assembly are getting set for harmonization of requests from various interest groups across the federation.

 

New Telegraph learnt that, as at Friday last week, a total of 100 memoranda had been submitted to the Senate Committee. It was also learnt that out of the hundred documents received so far by the alteration Panel, creation of State Police and devolution of power, featured in most of them.

 

Meanwhile, the Deputy President of the Senate and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, Senator Ovie Omo- Agege, yesterday, assured Nigerians that all the requests would be allowed to pass through the required legislative scrutiny.

 

According to Omo-Agege, who made the declaration while featuring in a current affairs programme on TVC (the Platform), anchored by Sam Omatseye, all the memoranda and bills made available to the Committee, would be diligently considered and processed.

 

He said that members of the committee were not under pressure from any group as regards approval of their requests, saying that it is Senate in plenary that would eventually decide any of the requests that would see the light of the day.

 

He stressed the need for Nigerians to take advantage of the window given by the Committee for call for memoranda, to submit their proposals on any of the 13 thematic areas to the panel.

 

His words: “Any Nigerian, who feels strongly about any issue that ought to be addressed in this exercise, has a right within the time stipulated to put their thoughts in writing by way of a memo and submit same to us.

 

“Upon receipt of that, we will meet as a committee, set up some sub-committees within the main committee that will go to each of the geopolitical zones. There they will reach out and ask people to step forward and speak to the memo that they have already submitted to us.

 

“Thereafter, we will come back, hold a retreat where we will aggregate the views of the content of the memoranda. And in some cases come up with more bills. “This committee will try not to kill any bill.

 

We will rather have all bills go to the floor at plenary and let the Nigerian people, speaking through their elected representatives, make the call as to whether or not those bills should pass. “Thereafter, we will go to the various Houses of Assembly to see if those votes can also muster two-thirds majority of the 36 assemblies. From there, we receive and transmit the successful bills to Mr President for assent”.

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