Nigeria’s next constitution will guarantee justice for all – Omo-Agege

ARMSTRONG ALLAHMAGANI, Bauchi-.

Chairman of the 1999 Constitution Review Committee, Ovie Omo-Agege, has assured Nigerians that the next Constitution being made for the country would be an all inclusive document that would be in line with democratic tenets as is done in developed nations.

Omo-Agege who is also the Deputy President of the Senate, gave the assurance while speaking in Bauchi on Wednesday at the opening ceremony of the North-East Zonal sitting on the review of the 1999 constitution as amended.

He said that it has taken a long time to review the constitution due to the fact that in a democracy, it is not always easy to review the constitution because it has to undergo a lot of processes that must be in line with democratic settings.

Represented by Senator Abubakar Kyari (Borno North), he explained that the review process is taking the bottom to up approach by engaging the public hearings across the country before the national hearing in order to ensure that Nigerians have their inputs well captured in the new document.

He assured that all the lapses in the 1999 Constitution as amended would be corrected in order to give every segment of the society a sense of belonging in the country, while appealing to Nigerians to make logical submissions in their memoranda.

In his speech, The Bauchi State Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed, advocated for the creation of more states and Local Government Areas in the country so that there would be more and even development across the country.

The Governor also called for constitutional recognition and roles for the traditional institutions in the country because according to him, the institution has a vital role in the well being of the country.

“There should be fairness and equity in the distribution of the country’s resources. We in Bauchi need additional local government areas, there are states smaller in land mass and population to Bauchi state but are getting more allocations because they have more local government areas than us”.

“There’s the need for devolution of power because much power is concentrated more at the center. We need to have a way out of the problems militating against our unity and progress, we need to move ahead in terms of development,” he said.

Governor Mohammed also said that the present three tiers of government federal, states and LGA should be retained in the new constitution but states should be allowed to control the natural resources in their various states and remit to the federal its own share.

In his goodwill message, The Speaker, Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Suleiman, commended the move to amend the constitution which he said has more of military inputs in a democratic dispensation.

Hon. Suleiman, who is also the Chairman, Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria, assured that all the 36 States of Assembly are waiting to see how the process would go, while declaring that as soon as it gets to the stage of concurrence, the States Assembly would not hesitate to do that.

He urged that every agitation that are genuine for peaceful coexistence in the country should be accommodated in the new constitution for good and effective governance.

“It will be our pride to have 2021 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria rather than what it is now, 21 years after the return to democratic dispensation in the country,” he stated.