Reps begin hearing on constitution review June 1, list venues

The House of Representatives’ Special Committee on Constitution Review has scheduled public hearings on the ongoing amendments to the 1999 Constitution for Tuesday and Wednesday next week. The event will be held in the six geopolitical zones.

The Senate had already begun a parallel exercise.

Deputy Speaker of the House, Ahmed Wase, is chairman of the committee.

The Chief Press Secretary to the Deputy Speaker, Umar Puma, in a statement issued on Monday and titled ‘Constitution review: Reps to Begin Zonal Public Hearings 1st June,’ said the committee “has invited the general public, executive and judicial bodies, traditional institutions, political parties, civil society organisations, professional bodies and all other stakeholders.”

The statement partly read, “The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, who is also chairman of the special committee, Rt. Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase, said each zone will have two centres.

“The committee chairman further stated that the North-Central zone public hearing will be held in Jos, with Plateau, Benue, Nasarawa states and the FCT in attendance, while Lokoja will serve as the second centre with Kogi, Niger and Kwara states.

“The North-East has Bauchi centre which is made up of Bauchi, Borno and Yobe states, while Yola centre has Adamawa, Taraba and Gombe states.

“The North-West centre is in Birnin Kebbi with Kebbi, Zamfara and Sokoto states; while Kano centre, which will hold on 2rd and 3rd June, with Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and Jigawa states.

“The South-East, which has Enugu centre, will host Enugu, Anambra and Ebonyi states; while Owerri centre will host Imo and Abia states.

“The South-West, with a centre in Akure, will host Ondo, Ekiti and Osun states; while Lagos centre will host Lagos, Oyo and Ogun states.

“The South-South zone will hold in Asaba centre on 2rd and 3rd June, comprising Delta, Bayelsa and Edo states; while Uyo centre holds on 1st and 2rd June, with Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Cross River states.”

The Deputy Speaker was quoted to have appealed to members of the committee to always put Nigeria first.

Wase said, “I’m appealing to you all to think only about Nigeria and work for Nigeria and ensure we deliver for our country the best constitution. We have an opportunity to write our names in gold. Let us not waste this golden opportunity as all eyes are on us. We must ensure that we do not betray the confidence Nigerians have in us.”