The Senate on Wednesday constituted a 45-member committee to review and amend Nigeria’s Constitution.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the composition of the committee during the plenary.
He said the committee will be chaired by the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, while the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, will be the deputy chairman.
Mr Akpabio explained that the 1999 constitution needs a review because it contains many issues that need to be “put right.”
He also highlighted the introduction of Artificial Intelligence as a major factor for the need to amend the constitution.
“There is a need for us to touch some aspects of the constitution to bring them in line with current realities particularly with the era of artificial intelligence and some of the things we have observed that need to be put right,” Mr Akpabio said.
The senate president also directed that all speakers of the State House of Assemblies should be invited to the National Assembly for interaction as part of the constitution amendment process.
“The Deputy Senate President, you also invite speakers of all state houses of assemblies for interaction with the Senate President before we go into the major issues of presenting the different memos,” he said.
Composition
Mr Akpabio explained that members of the amendment committee were selected from all states and geo-political zones. He said all political parties with representation in the Senate also have members in the committee.
“It is all political parties and all senatorial districts, all zones are taken care of.
“We are taking one senator per state because we are talking about the constitution amendment. One senator per state and then we are also taking one senator representing each geo-political zone.
“So, in case you noticed two senators from one state, that would mean that one of them represents the zone, while there’s one senator from that zone representing that state.”
The senate president noted that the constitution amendment committee will be inaugurated next Tuesday.
“The committee will be inaugurated on Tuesday so that they can start functioning immediately.
“All the motions and resolutions pertaining to constitution amendment that have been brought to the Senate since last year will now be channelled straight to that committee,” he said.
Aside from Messrs Barau and Bamidele, other members of the constitution amendment committee are:
Deputy Senate Leader, Oyelola Ashiru
Whip of the Senate, Ali Ndume
Deputy Whip, Nwebonyi Onyeka
Minority Leader, Abba Moro
Minority Whip, Osita Ngwu
Deputy Minority Leader, Oyewunmi Olalere
Minority Whip Sani Hangar
Enyinnaya Abaribe
Binus Dauda Yaroe
Bassey Etim Akpan
Ifeanyi Ubah
Abdul Ningi
Seriake Dickson
Agom Jarigbe
Ned Nwoko
Adams Oshiomole
Danjuma Goje
Osita Izunaso
Abdulhamid Ahmed
Khalid Mustapha
Sani Rufai
Mutari Dandutse
Yahaya Abdullahi
Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan
Adebule Oluranti
Ugodiya Akwashiki
Sani Musa
Adeola Olamilekan
Adeniyi Ayodele
Abdulfatai Buhari
Simon Lalong
Aliyu Wamako
Shuaibu Lau
Ahmed Lawan
Sahabi Alhaji Ya’u
Ireti Kingigbe
Ipalibo Banigo
Zonal representation
Adamu Aliero to represent ( North-west)
Orji Uzor Kalu to represent (South-east)
Francis Fadahunsi to represent (South-west)
Bomai Mohammed to represent (North-east)
Barinada Mpigi (South-south)
Umar Sadiq Sulaiman (North-central)
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