By KINGSLEY OKOYE

The Senate Committee on Review of 1999 Constitution will hold public hearings on the proposed constitution amendments between July 4 and July 5 in all the six geo-political zones of the country.

Chairman of the committee and Deputy Senate President, Sen. Barau Jibrin, disclosed this in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ismail Mudashir, in Abuja on Sunday.

Barau said that the public hearings would hold simultaneously in Lagos (South-West), Enugu (South-East), Ikot Ekpene (South-South, Jos (North-Central) Maiduguri, (North-East) and Kano (North-West).

According to him, the zonal public hearings are convened to gather the inputs of citizens on the proposed amendments to the country’s constitution.

He said that the public hearings would examine critical national issues, including local government autonomy, electoral and judicial reforms, state creation, state police and inclusive governance.

Barau said one of the bills proposed the establishment of local government councils as a tier of government to guarantee their democratic existence and tenure.

This, he said, was part of a renewed push for full autonomy for all the 774 local government councils in the country.

Barau said that the second bill on local government reforms sought to create an independent National Local Government Electoral Commission (NALGEC) to organise, conduct and supervise local government elections.

Also to be considered during the zonal public hearings are two bills on security and policing for the establishment of state police and state security council to coordinate internal security policies at the sub-national level.

“In the area of fiscal reforms, six bills are going to be considered, including the one to empower the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission to enforce compliance of remittance of accruals into and disbursement of revenue from Federation Account,” he said.

The lawmaker further stated that a bill on fiscal reforms to alter the provisions of the constitution to specify period within which the president or governor of a state would present the appropriation bill before the national assembly or houses of assembly would be discussed at the hearing.

“The committee will also consider a bill to provide additional seats for women in the national and state houses of assembly.

“A bill for an act to alter the constitution to establish the National Council of Traditional Rulers, the State Council of Traditional Rulers and the Local Government Council of Traditional Rulers will also be considered,” he said.

Barau said that a proposal for amendment of the 1999 Constitution to allow for independent candidacy at all levels of election would be also be discussed.

“This is just as a bill for diaspora voting to enfranchise Nigerians abroad has been listed for consideration.

“The hearing will consider over 20 bills seeking to overhaul the country’s judiciary, including timelines for judgment delivery and expanded jurisdiction for election tribunals.

“Proposals have been made to transfer items like labour and shipping from the exclusive to the concurrent legislative list,” he added.

The senator said that the committee would also discuss 31 proposals on state creation, with five requests each from the South-West, South-South and North-Central geo-political zones.

According to him, the committee has received seven requests from the North-East, six from the North-West and three from the South-East for state creation. (NAN)