The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has warned that politicking towards the 2023 general elections might frustrate the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution.
He, therefore, urged state Houses of Assembly to accelerate consideration and passage of the amendment bills transmitted to them by the National Assembly.
Gbajabiamila, at the plenary on Tuesday, also restated the readiness of the House to revisit the gender-related bills which failed to pass but had been revisited by the lawmakers.
The National Assembly had on March 1, 2022, voted on the 68 amendments recommended by the Joint Senate and House of Representatives’ Special Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution.
The bills are seeking to amend various parts of the 1999 Constitution.
The Speaker said, “The Constitution amendment process is still ongoing. We have already sent several constitutional amendment bills to the State Houses of Assembly for consideration.
“While we cannot dictate the pace of activities in the state legislatures, we must consider the possibility that these proposals are at risk of being forgotten amidst the heightened politicking across the country.
“Therefore, to the extent that we can, there may be a need to coordinate interactions with the state legislatures to ensure timely consideration of the bills. The leadership of the House of Representatives will examine the options we have in this regard and take a decision shortly.”
The Speaker asked the House of Representatives’ Special Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase, to include the gender bills in its report on the second batch of bills for votes.
The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has also called on lawmakers to prioritise the country’s security challenges as well as further amendments of the Electoral Act.
Lawan, on Tuesday in his welcome address to members urged lawmakers to stay committed to the political system of their respective parties not minding the outcome of the just concluded primaries.
He urged the senators to work hard to give the desired attention to the improvement of the security of citizens.
He added, “The security of our country, still needs our attention and, therefore, I urge all of us to continue from where we stopped before we went on recess, in giving due and desired attention for the improvement In the security of our citizens.”
“The electoral process may have thrown up certain issues that the National Assembly could also look at and address, because the electoral act itself, even though a good document, is not a perfect document. So, it needs some refinement from time to time to improve our electoral process.”
