The leadership of the National Assembly has launched a last minute initiative to save the proposed constitution amendment from total collapse and the almost one billion public funds already spent on the exercise from going down the drain.

It has constituted a committee to interface with representatives of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and the Conference Speakers of State Houses of Assembly with a view to resolving the current deadlock hampering the passage of the Constitution Review.

This is in addition to the passionate plea made by Senate President Ahmad Lawan recently urging the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-rufai to prevail on his fellow governors to allow their State Houses of Assembly to pass the 44 constitution alteration Bills.

A source close to the leadership of both the Senate and House of Representatives Adhoc Committees on Constitution Review told one of our correspondents that the development became imperative to ensure that the efforts already made by all stakeholders to ensure the success of the ongoing Constitution Review exercise do not hit the rocks.

Sources spoke of apprehension among members of the committees raised by both chambers of the National Assembly on the constitution amendment that the N1billion voted for the exercise by the 9th National Assembly would be wasted if the passage of the 44 Constitution amendment Bills sent to State Houses of Assembly do not meet the two-thirds (24 states) required for each of the Bills to sail through.

Some governors are said to be strongly opposed to the bill on autonomy for local governments and are also heavily in favour of state police which is not among the bills passed by the National Assembly.

At the last count, according to one of our sources, at least 22 states had voted on the 44 constitution alteration bills sent to them by the National Assembly.

States that have voted on the bills are Abia, Kogi, Edo, Ogun, Katsina, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Lagos, Eiiti, Adamawa, Nasarawa, Niger, Kaduna, Cross River, Benue, Osun, Enugu, Kabo, Bauchi, Rivers and Bayelsa.

Lagos, Ekiti, Benue, Rivers and Bayesa voted against local government autonomy, while Adamawa abstained from voting on the local government autonomy bill.

Eight states are still needed for the alteration on local government autonomy to sail through, while other bills require at least two more states to pass.

The constitution states that two-thirds of the states must endorse the amendment before it can be passed into law and forwarded to the President for assent.

Both the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila had recently expressed concern over the delay by the states to vote on the bills.

Also Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege had alleged that the states were using four bills sent by them to the National Assembly as a weapon of blackmail, threatening not to vote on the bills unless the four bills were passed.

States that are yet to vote on the 44 alteration bills are Imo, Ebonyi, Oyo, Ondo, Kwara, Plateau, Gombe, Taraba, Yobe, Borno, Sokoto, Jigawa, Zamfara and Kebbi.

A source said: “So far, 20 Houses of Assembly have voted on the 44 Constitution amendment Bills out of which 16 approved Local Government Autonomy, three voted against, while one abstained.

“We still need eight more Houses of Assembly to meet the threshold of 24 states stipulated by the Constitution. So let us sustain the momentum.”

The source said: “They (members of the Adhoc Committee on Constitution Review) met with the Conference of Speakers as well with the state governors. Even yesterday (Thursday), I learnt that the governors met with state speakers of Houses of Assembly.

“We are confident that the level of talks going on will see to the smooth sail of the constitution review exercise.”

House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila said earlier this month in Abuja that the constitution amendment process might not be concluded before the end of the Ninth Assembly as the process was being stalled by some state assemblies dragging their feet on the issue.

Speaking at the second edition of the distinguished parliamentarian lecture series organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in Abuja, Gbajabiamila said: “The success or failure of every significant governance initiative depends on the extent to which the objective is a shared priority of the different arms of government and, in some cases, of the state governments.

“Consider, for example, the vexing issue of constitutional reforms. Several of the commitments in the legislative agenda require amendments to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to achieve them.

“If you took a poll in this room now about the importance and need for substantive reforms to our nation’s constitution, I am sure the poll would return an overwhelming majority in favour. The National Assembly passed a raft of amendments to the constitution and advanced them to the states as required.

“That process now seems to have stalled in the state assemblies. As it is today, it is doubtful that the current constitutional amendment effort will conclude before the expiration of this legislative term.

“Despite broad national agreement on the need for reform, the potential for achievement can rise or fall based on differences in expectations of the context, pace, and direction of the specific proposals.

“The success of our democracy and the progress and prosperity of our nation depends on each of us knowing and operating in the knowledge that Nigeria belongs to us all, and we each have a responsibility to build a nation and leave a legacy we can be proud of.

“This is our greatest test and our most defining task. And it can only be achieved by our joint efforts as citizens, brothers and sisters dedicated to a cause greater than ourselves.” (The Nation)

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