House of Representatives Deputy Speaker, Hon Benjamin Kalu, has called for broader participation of Nigerians in the constitution review process.
Kalu, who is the Chairman, House Committee on Constitution Review, stated this at a news conference on notice of public hearings in 12 centres across the six geo-political zones, in Abuja yesterday.
He restated the committee’s commitment to ensuring broader participation by Nigerians and other critical stakeholders in the ongoing process of amending the constitution.
“To achieve this, we will be embarking on zonal public hearings in 12 centres across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria.
“These hearings are designed to provide open platforms for citizens, civil society organisations, professional bodies and traditional institutions to express their views and contribute meaningfully to the constitution reform process”, he said.
Kalu said that the zonal public hearings would hold in six centres of the three geo-political zones in the North from July 11 to July 13.
He also said that the public hearings would hold in the six
centres of the three geo-political zones in the South betwween July 18 and July 20, while the national public hearing had been scheduled for July 21.
The deputy speaker said that the 86 constitution review bills currently under consideration in the house would be presented to the general public in form of a compressed compendium.
According to him, the compendium comprises a collation of explanatory memoranda, long titles and a comprehensive exposé of the bills for people’s inputs.
He said that the purpose of the hearings was to use the opportunity to present the compendium as reference material to all stakeholders and members of the public.
Kalu, who stressed the need for people-oriented constitution, said that the essence of the public hearing was to enable Nigerians to understand the legislative proposals.
He said that it would also help in facilitating public engagements by allowing citizens to seek clarifications,
critically examine the bills based on their subject matter and contribute through constructive inputs.
The deputy speaker highlighted the thematic areas of the compendium to include: electoral reforms, judicial reforms,
legislature, inclusive governance, security and policing.
Others, according to him, are: devolution of powers, strengthening of institutions, traditional institutions, fiscal reforms, citizenship and indigeneship, fundamental human rights, local government reform as well as creation of states and local governments.
Kalu called on all stakeholders and the general public to actively participate in the zonal and national public hearings, saying that their contributions and inputs were crucial to the success of the constitution review process.
