Senate President Hints About Amending Nigerian Constitution

A Constitutional amendment remains one of the top priorities of the seventh Nigerian Senate. This declaration was made by Senate President, David Mark today.

He made the statement while receiving his colleagues back to the Senate after a two month vacation, the dailyTimesng, has reported.

Mark said the Senate will build on the success of the last Constitutional amendment to make further amendments that will touch major constitutional props of Nigeria.

“Nigerians expect us to revisit some fundamental issues such as state creation, the local government system, devolution of powers, revenue allocation, State Police, State INEC, uniform minimum wage, joint account and other contentious but important issues,” he said.

While reviewing the constitution, he said towering questions would be “Should we allow State Police? Will it enhance policing duties and reduce criminality in the country? Is the current revenue formula equitable? Will a change in favour of the States enhance the deliverables to the people?

“Should power distribution be on the Exclusive Legislative List? Shouldn’t States that invest in power generation be allowed to distribute?

“Is it necessary to create new States? Will it bring government nearer to the people and address cries of marginalisation?

“How effective are the local governments? Should they be made to function independently of the States? Is the Joint State/Local Governments account still necessary?”

Sitting senators reacted in chorus to the Senate President’s rhetorical questions giving their takes on the suggested parts to be amended in the Constitution.

A majority of the sitting senators chorused an affirmation of most of the suggested amendments, but sharply disagreed on creating more states.

The Senate President did not mention the six year single tenure proposal by President Goodluck Jonathan in his speech. He however said that the Senate “will not run away from any of these issues,” in the amendment of the 1999 Constitution.

He said he expects that this session will deal with other issues that will guarantee good governance, peace, justice, and development in Nigeria.

“Furthermore, in the course of pursuing our legislative agenda, we will most likely review the Electoral Act, 2010,” the Senate President added, “Now that primaries and elections are over and the tribunals are addressing the aftermaths of the election in accordance with the Electoral Act, we should be able to draw from the lessons learnt and further amend the Act accordingly.”

The Senate President also urged the Federal Government to take decisive steps to stem the “ugly tide” in the nation’s security system.

“It must rise to emphatically make this land most infertile for all sponsors and peddlers of terrorism and anarchy. And in doing this, there must be no sacred cows,” he said.