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From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Contentious issues of devolution of power, review of revenue sharing formula, state police, local government autonomy and state creation dominated the zonal public hearing on alterations of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
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The two-day public hearing which is holding in Asaba, drew participants from Delta, Bayelsa and Edo states.
It is being organised by the Senate Committee on Constitution Review which has the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege as chairman.
Declaring the public hearing open, Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa noted that the nation should continue as a federation but with proper federal structure.
To qualify for a federation, Okowa said there should be “acceptable and legitimate division of powers among different tiers of government; a written constitution delineating such division; the coordinate supremacy of the levels of government with regard to their respective functions; and a considerable measure of autonomy – fiscal, legislative and judicial – of the Federal Government and the federating units.”
The governor who was represented by the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Sheriff Oborevwori, advocated that revenues collected by the Federal Government through the parastatals of NNPC, NLNG, CBN, NIMASA, FAAN and other similar agencies should be remitted into the federation account.
He said such agencies and parastatals “shall only appropriate for their expenditures after prior approval by the National Assembly.
“It is anomalous for these parastatals and/or agencies of the federation to collect and spend all revenues due to the Federation Account by themselves without reference to an approved budget by the National Assembly as provided in Section 80(1) of the Constitution.”
In his welcome remarks, Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege said the zonal public hearing was adopted as a “bottom-top approach by first listening to Nigerians at the geo-political level.”
Omo-Agege whose speech was read by the chairman of the zonal public hearing, Senator James Manager, explained that the approach underscored the critical importance sub-national governments in constitution review process.
He said the need to address topical issues of judicial and electoral reforms, local government autonomy and Devolution of powers through constitutional amendment, topped the agenda of the 9th Senate.
“You will agree with me that if we get those items through constitutional processes of alteration successfully then our Constitutional Democracy will be set on the right pedestal, and ultimately, Nigeria will take its pride of place among the enviable constitutional democracies in the world.
“It is therefore with great pleasure that I convey the intention of the Senate to leverage on this constitutional review exercise to achieve as many milestones as possible in one fell swoop,” he said.
He emphasised the need to review the Constitution from time to time, adding that the ongoing process “provides a platform for the good people of Nigeria to express their opinions on the fundamental law that governs our lives through proposals that will lead to the highest good for the greatest number of our people.
“No doubt, we are going to have diverse and differing views on the different themes of the exercise. However, the focus for this committee is how to manage the review exercise in a fair, inclusive, credible, and transparent manner.”
Participants at the public hearing including politicians, civil society groups, women group, youth body, community stakeholders, unions, traditional rulers, religious groups, among others, across the three state presented their memoranda on various subjects to the secretariat of the committee.
