By Our Reporter
The Senate has reaffirmed the National Assembly’s commitment to delivering people-centred and timely amendments to the 1999 Constitution.
Speaking at a two-day joint retreat of the Senate and House of Representatives’ Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution in Lagos, Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau I. Jibrin (APC, Kano North), urged lawmakers to ensure that the first set of amendments is transmitted to State Houses of Assembly before the end of the year.
The retreat, which aims to review proposed constitutional amendments clause by clause, will consider 69 bills, 55 state creation requests, two boundary adjustment proposals, and 278 local government creation requests.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ismail Mudashir, Senator Jibrin said the process has been ongoing for two years, involving consultations with constituents, institutions, civil society organizations, and interest groups through town hall meetings and public hearings.
He emphasized the committee’s responsibility to resolve pending issues and make recommendations to both chambers, acknowledging the challenge of completing the task within two days but expressing optimism about its success.
“We represent constituents with diverse ethnic, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds through different political platforms. However, the Constitution is the grundnorm for our nationhood, which we must approach with patriotism and nationalism as higher shared goals,” Jibrin said.
The Deputy Senate President, who also serves as the First Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, called on lawmakers to prioritize the national interest and avoid divisive debates.
“We are seated here as one committee. There should be no ‘we’ and ‘them.’ We must be guided solely by the interests of Nigerians,” he concluded.