Reps consider restructuring state police, LG autonomy
The House of Representatives on Thursday, inaugurated its Special Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution to work on the bills calling for restructuring of the governance structures, decentralization of the current policing system, the autonomy for local governments and the judiciary, among others.
At the event, where the secretary of the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, who represented the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege, who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, and the National Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu among others.
The Deputy Speaker and Chairman of the House Committee on Constitution Review, Ahmed Wase, in his opening remarks, noted that the importance of reviewing the constitution could not be overemphasized as a vast majority of Nigerians consider the 1999 constitution as a product of military exigency.
Wase added that Nigerians felt that the reference to “We the people” in the constitution did not represent them, adding, “various political actors have, therefore, been advocating for a serious review”.
He noted that there had been several attempts to mend the 1999 constitution, while the agitation for a much more fundamental amendment had not stopped.
“Until these critical areas are resolved, we may continue to face the clamour for a new constitution. Therefore, in order to achieve the much needed success by the 9th Assembly, there are pertinent areas that must be looked into. These are burning issues that have been left to burn for so long without giving them the much needed attention”, Wase stated.
The Deputy Speaker disclosed that his panel had received over 15 bills touching on broad thematic areas such as the federal structure (true federalism), local government autonomy, state police, state creation and judicial autonomy.
Speaking on the federal structure and true federalism, Wase said, “Despite the fact that Nigeria prides herself as a federal state, it is sadly evident that it is far from what federalism entails.
“Some have stated that our federal system is more unitary than federalist, especially with the number of items on the exclusive legislative list, where the federal government regulates even simple items like primary education and agriculture, hence, there has been clamour for more devolution of power from the centre to the states in order to make the states more viable and economically sustainable.
Wase noted that the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit recently tried to intervene in the monitoring of usage of the local governments by issuing a policy directive meant to enthrone transparency and accountability in the use of the funds.