Legislators Adopt
Constitutional Amendment Procedure
Lateefat Afegbua, Abuja
The
House of Representatives has formally adopted a
procedure that would guide the proposed amendments
to 1999 constitution.
The legislators proposed that any amendment shall be
deemed passed if supported by a positive vote of
two–third of majority members while a question to
amend constitutional sections relating to state
creation and boundary adjustment would require an
affirmative vote of two hundred and eighty-eight
members.
VON correspondent reports that the motion, which
generated heated debate on the floor of the House,
also allotted five minutes to each member for their
views when debate for the review commences in
plenary.
It would be recalled that a joint constitutional
review by both chambers of the National Assembly had
been a subject of controversy as the two Houses
differ on several procedural issues.
In a related development, the House of
Representatives has described a bill for an Act to
amend the Legal Practitioners’ Act as the most
important judicial legislation.
The committee handling the Act urged the Nigeria Bar
Association and the Nigerian Law School to present a
comprehensive memorandum to it on the Bill.
The proposed Act is aimed at giving statutory
backing to the establishment of an Institute for
Continuing Legal Education by the Nigeria Bar
Association and to institute a mandatory continuing
legal education programme for the legal profession.
Qasim/Yinka