Constitution Amendment:
Review May Exclude President’s Tenure
There
are indications that the National Assembly may set some “no-go”
areas for its Joint Committee on Constitution Review (JCCR) in a
bid to erase suspicion and streamline the focus of the
committee.
Save for its chairman and deputy chairman, the JCCR, which
membership is yet to be constituted, will be saddled with the
responsibility of proposing areas of amendment to the 1999
Constitution.
“Past Attempt”
The former constitution review committee headed by erstwhile
Deputy Senate President, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, had in the fifth
session of the National Assembly, proposed a maximum of three
terms of 12 years for governors and president.
That provision was a smokescreen for the former president, Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo, to enact his third term agenda.
The move, allegedly orchestrated by Obasanjo, had heightened
tension in the polity and had eventually truncated that
constitution amendment process as the entire amendment bill was
killed on the floor of the Senate.
“Areas of Amendment”
The defunct Senator Mantu-led constitution review committee had
recommended over 100 areas of the constitution for amendment.
Areas which, might engage the attention of the JCCR, acting on
the advice of the National Assembly leadership, include the
revenue allocation/sharing among the Federal, state and local
governments and percentage of derivation to the oil-producing
states, state/local government joint account, immunity clause,
and specific roles for traditional institutions.
Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have already
passed separate motions endorsing the composition of a 74-member
JCCR, comprising 37 members apiece to handle the critical
assignment.
The JCCR will be chaired by the Deputy Senate President, Senator
Ike Ekweremadu, while the Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon.
Usman Bayero Nafada, will be deputy chairman.
The leadership of the Senate may soon announce the 37 Senators
that will fill its slots on the committee.
Each of the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital
Territory (FCT), Abuja will be represented by a Senator.
The House will contribute 37 members to the committee on the
basis of state representation, thus giving each state two slots
on the committee.
NP/MICHAEL
