Reps to vote on constitution review 10 December

The House of Representatives may vote on the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution on 10 December.

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The Deputy Speaker of the House, Benjamin Kalu, who also chairs the House Committee on Constitution Review, announced this on Thursday.

He informed members during plenary that the chamber is likely to devote three consecutive legislative days – Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to conclude debates on the proposed amendments before taking a final position the upper week.

According to him, the House has already completed the technical work required for the current phase of the review process, and the committee is now preparing the final documents that will be tabled before lawmakers for consideration.

“We are going to continue another set of debates next week, but this time it will be on the Constitution review,” he said. “We will confirm to you before that Tuesday if we are taking this decision. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be for the debates because we are looking at the upper week to be when we will vote on the Constitution, which is about 10 December, before we wind down this session.”

The deputy speaker explained that the Constitution Review Committee had concluded its technical work and would transmit the harmonised documents to the House for debate next week.

According to him, the upcoming sessions will prepare members ahead of the final vote scheduled for the second week of December.

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“The communications will go, but prepare yourself for debate next week on the Constitution amendment, the review programme that we’ve been going through because we have finished our work and the committee level and it is just to present it to the house and then debate on it,” he added.

The constitution review exercise is one of the most consequential legislative processes undertaken by the 10th National Assembly, with several proposed amendments seeking to alter governance structures, create additional seats for women, devolution of powers, local government autonomy, judicial reforms, strengthen federal–state relations, improve security, and address long-standing political and administrative concerns.

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If the House meets the 10 December timeline, the vote will take place before the chamber proceeds on its end-of-year break.

The Senate is also expected to proceed with its own vote after which harmonised positions will be transmitted to state assemblies for concurrence, as required by the Constitution.

If adopted by at least 24 state assemblies, the amendments will be returned to the National Assembly for final certification and onward transmission to the president for assent.