Constitution Review: Full Speech of Onyejeocha at The Opening Ceremony of The House of Rep Zonal Public Hearing in Lagos

We have been able to lay hands on the full speech by the honorable member representing Isuikwuato Umunneochi Federal Constituency and Deputy Chief Whip, Hon Nkeiruka Onyejeocha at the opening ceremony of zonal public hearing on the review of the 1999 constitution, profjaysblog reports.

Read the full speech below:

SPEECH BY HON. NKEIRUKA ONYEJEOCHA, DEPUTY CHIEF WHIP, AND MEMBER, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AD-HOC COMMITTEE ON THE REVIEW OF THE 1999 CONSTITUTION AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ZONAL PUBLIC HEARING ON THE REVIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, 1999 HELD AT LAGOS, NIGERIA ON 1st JUNE 2021.

Protocols

Ladies and Gentlemen

1.

On behalf of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, an esteemed indigene and representative of this great State, Rt. Hon Femi. Gbajabiamila, I am pleased to welcome you all to the opening ceremony of the House of Representatives Zonal Hearing on the review of the 1999 Constitution.

2.

This Public Hearing is part of the efforts by the House of Representatives to ensure a participatory and inclusive approach in the 9th National Assembly’s Constitution review process, so as to provide us with requisite knowledge and information needed to give to Nigerian citizens, an amended Constitution that is responsive to their needs and aspirations. Because the House values greatly the input and contributions of Nigerians, these hearings have been scheduled to hold across the 6 geo-political zones of the country not just here in Lagos State.

3.

It would be recalled that the House of Representatives’ Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution was set up in October 2020 with the Deputy Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase, as Chairman and with about 65 members (confirm number) with the mandate to steer the constitution review process in the House. Notable, is the fact that the Speaker ensured that all the female members of the House of Representatives were included as members of this committee. This is commendable. The Committee issued a call for memoranda and received submissions covering a wide range of issues including local government autonomy, devolution of powers, indigene and citizenship rights, electoral reforms, judicial reform, socio-economic and cultural rights, gender equity, women’s political representation, police and security architecture, among others. Based on memoranda received so far by the House from the public and members’ bills referred to the committee, the committee at its maiden retreat held in Abuja, highlighted 4 major areas as being very important: Local Government Reform Electoral Reform Judicial Reforms Women’s rights and political participation. I am going to speak briefly on these issues.

4.
Local Government Reform: The Local Government is closest to the people and is meant to be the first line provider of services at the grassroots but this is not the case in Nigeria. As a country, we have not achieved desired gains of citizens’ involvement in local governance. Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution states in part that “the system of Local Government by democratically elected Local Government Councils is under the Constitution guaranteed.” This is however observed more in breach as many States at various times do not have democratically elected local government councils or a secured tenure for councilors. To address this, members of the public, through their memos, as well as many of our colleagues in the House through members bills, have proposed to grant full financial, administrative, executive and legislative autonomy to local government councils. They have also proposed that Local Government should be made a tier of government with a uniform tenure and that, any Local Government Council that does not have democratically elected officials should be denied allocation from the Federation Account and other benefits from the State Government. The amendment of section 7 of the Constitution to grant local governments autonomy was one that was overwhelmingly supported and passed by the past 8th Assembly. Unfortunately, this failed at the State level as it could not garner support from enough States to enable it sail through. It is hoped that serious thought and consideration will be given to this issue this time around and that the will of the people will prevail.

5.

Electoral and Judicial Reforms: Electoral reform remains a critical issue in Nigeria. The experience is that our electoral regime and process is still far from perfect and will require further tinkering with the Constitution to address challenges that have emerged from the last general election. A key area is that of time for adjudication of electoral disputes as well as computation of time for filing election petitions. In the past amendment exercise in 2017, the Constitution was amended to require election tribunals and the court of appeal to deliver judgment within 180 days and 60 days respectively of the filing of election petitions and delivery of judgment by the tribunal. It also defined timelines for filing petitions and what constitutes pre-election matter. In light of recent court rulings from the 2019 general elections, there is need to revisit the issue of computation of time in the filing of petitions; particularly how national emergencies could potentially affect computation of time; the quick dispensation of justice especially on disposal of pre-election matters so that cases do not linger into the post-election period, as well as the issue of qualifications and disqualifications of candidates and their running mates, among others. There are also renewed calls for independent candidacy which the past 8th Assembly passed, but which again, failed at the States. Similarly, there are calls for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to take over the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) role of organizing local government elections in the states following from concerns over credibility of the process. We would welcome opinions and submissions on all these issues.

6.
Women’s Political Participation: Women’s political participation is an issue that is of interest to Nigerian women and civil society groups. It is also of interest to the Hon. Speaker, the Deputy Speaker, me and my male and female colleagues in the House. This is because the number of women in appointive and legislative offices is terribly low, which is not good for the image and development of the country, especially at a time when we need all hands on deck – male and female – to move the country to greater heights. There are only 8 women in the Senate, about 13 in the House and there are reports that up to 15 of our States do not have women in their State Assemblies. I believe we can do better. The Speaker, my humble self and over 100 House members have proposed a bill to adopt a temporary measure to create special seats for women in the National Assembly and State Assemblies just for a number of years, to encourage the growth of numbers and participation of women in politics. This is not novel as many other countries, including sister African countries have also adopted the same measures. We look forward to support and submissions on this issue as well as on other issues affecting women, young people, children and other vulnerable groups

7.
I wish to note that the highlight of these key areas does not diminish or exclude the importance of other areas or issues that may be brought forward at this hearing. For instance, the House of Representatives is concerned about the issue of insecurity and conversations around the re-jigging of our security architecture. In fact, the House just concluded a security summit on this issue last week and we would like to hear submissions from citizens on how they think the Constitution can be altered to best serve our security needs. The same goes for devolution of powers and strengthening of our subnational units – the States.

8.

In essence, we are calling on everyone – grassroots associations, labour and trade unions, business associations, civil society organisations, traditional rulers and councils, women groups, disability rights groups, youth groups, religious and faith based groups, professional bodies, the private sector etc. to make inputs to this process. The views that would be expressed by Nigerians at this hearings would guide the House as it seeks to further amend the Constitution. The hearings are a milestone in the process of amendment to enable us to achieve a significant amendment of the constitution. Once the zonal hearings are over, there will be a concluding National Public Hearing after which there would be a vote in the House on the issues, hopefully ahead of our annual recess. Because we operate a bicameral legislature, the House will have to meet with the Senate to harmonise positions. Afterwards, the bills will be sent to the State Houses of Assembly and we expect that the States will respond in an expeditious manner.

9.
The House of Representatives realizes that the task of making further amendments to the constitution is a very serious one and requires the full involvement and participation of all Nigerians. Consequently, the House Committee on Constitution Review and indeed the entire House of Representatives commits to carrying out its assignment objectively with the interest of the Nigerian people at heart.

10.

I encourage us all to participate and engage this process to its conclusion. I wish to thank my colleagues in the Constitution Review Committee, the leadership and members of the House of Representatives for their hard work and dedication to deliver a constitution that is responsive to the needs of Nigerian citizens. But most of all, I wish to thank everybody who sent in memos and submissions and everybody present here for taking time off your daily activities to participate in this important national assignment. I wish us fruitful deliberations.

11.

Thank you and God bless.

HON. NKEIRUKA ONYEJEOCHA,

DEPUTY CHIEF WHIP, AND MEMBER,

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AD-HOC COMMITTEE ON THE REVIEW OF THE 1991 CONSTITUTION