16th November, 2012
The People of Yewa South/Ipokia Federal Constituency, Ogun State, southwest Nigeria, rose from the one-day Constitution review public session with a plea to the National Assembly to accommodate six new amendments in the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution.
Their proposed amendments include:
That Schedule 1 section 3 of the constitution be amended to effect the change of name of Egbado North and Egbado South local governments to Yewa North and Yewa South respectively;
That there should be a constitutional provision for the establishment of Nigeria Border Development Commission to cater for infrastructure development, human capacity development, scholarship and job opportunities for the people in the border areas;
That section 91 of the Constitution should be amended by removing the proviso that reads: “provided no state has below 24 or more than 40.” If amended ,it can be applied to creation of local governments;
That provision should be made in the Constitution to include that widows and the elderly should be given necessary care and support by the government;
That the Constitution be amended to include replication of the federal Character Commission at the state and local government levels to ensure justice, equity and fairness and;
That the Constitution should be amended to create Yewa/Awori State from the present Ogun State.
In his welcome address, Abiodun Akinlade charged the people of his constituency to see the public session as an opportunity to make suggestions and necessary inputs into the nation’s Constitution, adding that there must be deep reflection on the observed inadequacies in the 1999 Constitution while deciding on the proposed amendments.
Akinlade informed the audience that the bill seeking amendment to schedule 1 section 3 of the Constitution on change of the nomenclature of Egbado North and Egbado South to Yewa North and Yewa South respectively had passed through the second reading in the House of Representatives.
He thereafter raised a motion to include the amendment into the review agenda.
Messrs Dapo Oke and Femi Dokunmu in two separate papers observed that the 1999 Constitution has not been fair to the people of Ogun West Senatorial district viz a viz equitable distribution of electoral units given the number of local governments, wards and state constituencies allocated to the district despite the almost equal demographic statistics.
Dapo Oke urged the National Assembly to consider and approve the INEC 2009 report on delineations of constituencies which recommended 13,12, and 11 seats in the proposed 36 member Ogun State House of Assembly among the three Senatorial Districts of Ogun East, Central and West respectively.
All the proposed six additional amendments were voted on and adopted for further necessary actions.
—Yisa Jamiu