As calls intensify for a new constitution, the House of Representatives is poised to deliberate on amending the 1999 constitution as amended on resumption from its Christmas and New Year break, according to The Nation.
To embark on the process, the second legislators are considering fully involving the executive as well as all relevant stakeholders in the impending review of the constitution to ensure speedy passage of the relevant sections as well as concurrence from the states.
The Nation reports an anonymous source to have said stakeholders engagement and participation will be critical to enacting an acceptable and far-reaching amendment.
He said: “In accordance with the utterances of the leadership of the House that the solutions to Nigeria’s myriad of problems lie in a new constitution, the ad hoc committee on the alteration of the constitution headed by the Deputy Speaker, Rep. Idris Wase, had already called for the submission of memoranda from stakeholders and the general public in a bid to fast track the process.
“The House is very keen on a wholesome review and needs to carry all stakeholders along and the House is of the opinion that the constitution is work in progress. It is only through a review that the country can get a perfect constitution.
The source further said the review might take into consideration the recent suggestion by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, that there must be a way to insert punishment for electoral offenders into the review of the constitution.
