From Paul Orude Bauchi
As more groups and citizens continue to agitate for a break up, Bauchi State Governor Bala Abdukadir Mohammed has reitartaed his belief that Nigeria is beter as one country.
Mohammed gave the advice while declaring open the Federal House of Representatives North East Zonal Committee for review of the 1999 Constitution, held at Hezibal Suite, Bauchi, on Tuesday.
Admonishing Nigerians to believe in the Nigerian Project, he reiterated his call for an indivisible Nigeria, saying “we are better as one united Nigeria than going our separate way”
Governor Mohammed therefore appealed to the National Assembly to look into the various agitations and reflect them in the constitutional review.
He said that the participatory approach by the National Assembly in the amendment of the constitution is expected to produce a people’s constitution that will address the social-economic problems in country.
Mohammed said that a solid review of the constitution must have a clear break from the command structure of the military government which concentrated enormous power in the centre as manifested in the 1999 constitution.
“The constituents units of the Nigeria federation represented by the current 36 states, the Federal Capital Territory and the 774 local governments are near to the people and must be given enough powers with resources in order to positively impact the lives of the people at the grassroots,” he said.
“The position of Bauchi state on the review of the 1999 constitution has been well articulated in a document that will be presented to the committee.
“Since power is concentrated at the center to the detriment of states and local governments, the constitution should therefore be altered to give more powers to the two tiers with a review of revenue formula, so as to make more funds available to states and local governments to discharge their duties effectively”
The governor expressed concerned that states smaller than Bauchi state have more local government areas and Representatives at the Federal House of Representatives and hence get more funds than Bauchi from the federation account.
“In order to address this unfair and unjust arrangement, we as a state request that Katagum state should be created out of Bauchi state and additional local government areas, so that we can be at pat with other states in the country” he said
Earlier in his address, the House of Representatives Committee Chairman for review of 1999 constitution, Dr Aminu Suleiman said that the committee will do justice to all submissions and inputs from the public hearing, adding that even though the alteration of the constitution is tasking, the constitution will be amended to reflect the yearnings and aspirations of the people.
He said that the committee has received no fewer than 30 proposed alterations for consideration, calling on the participants to share their wealth of experience during the public hearing that determine the final outcome of the Constitutional amendment.