CONSTITUTION REVIEW

 

CONSTITUTION REVIEW: SPEAKER CHARGES COUNCILORS                                       

The Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State house of Assembly, Engr. Ignatius Edet, has urged councilors in the country to be involved in the current process for the amendment of the Constitution.

The Speaker, who spoke at the end of a two-day stakeholders roundtable and familiarization tour of the National Councilors’ Forum of Nigeria in Uyo, reasoned that, as the closest set of legislators to the grassroots, councilors has a lot to contribute to the amendment process and advised them to collate and pass their inputs to the National Assembly through their various State Houses of Assembly.

Engr. Edet, who is a National Vice-Chairman of the Conference of Speakers in Nigeria and a member of a 12-member committee set up by the conference to liaise with the National Assembly on the constitution amendment, announced that the 36 State Houses of Assembly would soon collate their position  for onward passage to the National Assembly.

He stressed that State Houses of Assembly has key role to play in the process because any amendment to the constitution could only be valid if it enjoyed the support of at least two-thirds of States Houses of Assembly.

He admonished councilors to take a cue from the State legislature by having a harmonious working relationship with the executive arms of their respective councils through the use of dialogue to resolve differences instead of in-fighting, pointing out that good governance and development could only thrive in a peaceful atmosphere.

The Speaker used the opportunity to announce that the State House of Assembly would amend the Local Government (Administration) Law within the next one month, assuring that the House would focus on the amendment as soon as possible.

According to him, the House would amend, among other sections of the law, the section that gives the power of ratification of local government budgets to the House with the aim of transferring that power to local government legislative councils.

Meanwhile, Engr. Edet has been appointed into a committee set up by the Conference of Speakers in Nigeria to mediate into the crisis rocking the Ogun State House of Assembly.

The Speaker, who disclosed this, shortly on arrival from a meeting of the conference in Jalingo, Taraba State, said the committee would soon move into Ogun State to find a lasting solution to the problem.

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