TheCable

Benjamin Kalu, deputy speaker of the house of representatives, says work on the amendment of the 1999 constitution will be completed in December 2025.

Kalu spoke in Abuja on Wednesday during the pre-inaugural meeting of the committee on constitutional amendment.

The deputy speaker said the 1999 constitution review committee would be inaugurated on February 26, noting that 40 amendment bills have so far been received.

“It is the view of Mr speaker that we set a realistic timeline that does not conflict with electoral activities which would advertently or inadvertently affect the alteration process, specifically, December 2025, the time we are looking at to conclude the activities of this committee,” Kalu said.

“It is not out of place to guess that there is some level of fatigue in the amendment process by some vocal sections of the populace.

“Whatever opinion you hold, it is important to let you know that we presently have 40 bills that are at various stages of consideration which relate to the alteration of the constitution.”

Kalu said the constitution review committee will consider bills that failed to pass through in the previous assembly.

“The committee is fully aware of the concerns of Nigerians on the need to finalise and conclude discussions around Nigeria’s constitution,” he said.

“I will like to state, however, that the nature of Nigeria’s constitution and the history around how it was made and handed over to a new civilian government in 1999, makes it imperative for us to continually revisit the several provisions of the constitution and work towards accomplishing consensus on outstanding constitutional debates.

“Let me also remind the committee that in the last constitution review efforts, there were some key constitution amendment proposals that did not pass either because we did not fully understand their provisions or we did not have enough time to agree on them.

“An example was the proposal to create additional seats for women in federal and state legislative houses.

“Let us use this opportunity to understand this proposal, hoping that those who are the promoters of this particular amendment will start their advocacy timely and be more thorough and comprehensive, reaching the stakeholders to control the mindsets of their representatives.”

The deputy asked members of the committee to “prepare to work very hard and timeously to deliver on citizens’ expectations of concrete amendments in the shortest possible time”.