The House of Representatives, on Thursday, presented the
collated report of the Peoples’ Public Sessions on the Review of the 1999
Constitution conducted by the House in the 360 federal constituencies of the
country, with the majority of Nigerians kicking against resource control,
creation of state police and creation of state Independent Electoral
Commission.
The result was
presented at an elaborate event chaired by the Speaker, Honourable Aminu
Tambuwal, who apologised for the unfortunate postponement of presentation of
the result on January 31.
According
to the result presented by the constitution review panel chaired by Honourable
Emeka Ihedioha, the majority of Nigerians equally supported financial autonomy
for local governments in the country, autonomy for house of assemblies and
independent candidacy in elections.
The result
further showed that the constituents supported amendment of the constitution to
deny revenue allocation to unelected local government councils in the country.
However, the
result showed that Nigerians kicked against zoning arrangement, single term and
diaspora voting.
On the issue
of state creation, the majority of the constituents supported creation of
states but not on equal level.
Support was
also given to amendment of the constitution to separate the office of the Accountant-General
of the Federation by the creation of the office of the Accountant-General of
the states and, as well separation of the office of the Attorney-General of the
Federation from the position of Minister of Justice of the Federation.
Earlier, in his
address, Honourable Ihedioha said the views of all Nigerians on various issues
outlined in the review of the constitution had been fully reflected in the
report presented to the House on Thursday.
Honourable
Ihedioha also affirmed that the reports from the peoples public sessions, “have
been painstakingly collated, verified and its integrity can be fully assured.”
According to
him, “This process may not be perfect, but I dare say, that it is the first
time in the history of this country that Nigerians at the grassroots have been
made part of the Constitution Review Process in a practical and transparent
manner.
“We promised
Nigerians that we shall be transparent and accountable. Indeed we made a
commitment to do things differently in our Legislative Agenda, unveiled at the
beginning of the 7th House of Representatives. This public presentation is a
fulfillment of this commitment and promise”, he said.
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Politics