Senate constitution review guided by law-Ganiyu Solomon

The Senate session on the review of the 1999 constitution kicked off on Thursday.

The Chairman of the Senate Session on the Review of the 1999 Constitution for the South-West zone, Ganiyu Solomon, on Friday said that the review was informed by constitutional provisions.

Mr. Solomon spoke at the end of the Senate public hearing on the review, which kicked off in Lagos on Thursday.

Reacting to calls that Nigeria needs a fresh constitution by the people, rather than amendments, Mr. Solomon said that “the 1999 constitution made provisions for amendments.”

He said there are no provisions in the constitution that stipulate how we go about a fresh constitution.

“Where do we start to do that? We will put that to Nigerians to come up with a suggestion to add such amendment to the existing constitution before we can do so,” he said.

The senator, however, said that the committee is passionate about the positions presented at the session and would ensure that the views were presented to the larger house.

“We cannot say precisely what issues dominated the presentations, but all we can say is that all issues in the agenda were touched by various persons and interests that presented their memoranda,” he said.

Speaking with newsmen, Oluremi Tinubu, representing Lagos Central zone, said that there is no way all interests would be accommodated by the amendment.

“One thing that is paramount is security and development and on that, I am sure, the senate will not let Nigerians down.

“We appreciate all the interests and agitation and we will ensure that they are represented in our submission to the senate,” she said.

On state police, Mrs. Tinubu said that it would be seriously looked into because of the security situation in Nigeria.

“As it is, the federal police is not functioning adequately well, hence the need for a state owned police,” she said.

She, however, assured that the interests of the people in the South-West would be addressed and represented well by the committee.

Some of the issues in the review agenda included devolution of powers, state creation, state police, role of traditional rulers, local government autonomy, and recognition of the six geo-political zones in the constitution.