Senate announces date for zonal public hearings on constitution review

The Senate has announced that zonal hearings for a constitutional review are scheduled to commence on May 26.

This was contained in a statement issued by the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege via his Special Adviser, Media, and Publicity, Yomi Odunuga on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said a national public hearing was expected to be held in Abuja.

Omo-Agege spoke while hosting members of the Legal Defence and Assistance Project in his office.

In order to ensure a thorough process, the Committee in charge comprises 59 other Senators drawn from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory as members, with Omo-Agege as the Chairman.

Omo-Agege called on those who have already submitted memoranda to defend their positions at the events.

The Senate Deputy President noted that Jos and Minna would host the public hearings in the North Central Geopolitical Zone. North East and North West would hold in Bauchi and Gombe as well as Kaduna and Sokoto.

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Similarly, that of South East would hold in Owerri and Enugu, even as South-South and South West would be hosted in Port Harcourt and Asaba as well as Akure and Lagos.

“The public hearing which commences May 26 would be held simultaneously in 12 state capitals in Nigeria, meaning that two public hearings would be held per geo-political zone.

“You will have also observed that on each of the Constitution Review that has been done in the past, Affirmative Action and increased women representations have always been on the agenda. But in the past, we have not been able to muster the numbers required to effect constitutional change.

“However, in every exercise, we have seen increasing numbers of legislators’ supporting the process. So, the challenge is how to reach the critical threshold during this process.

“Your work is quite cut out for you. But rest assured that we are partners in this business,” he explained.

By Mayowa Oladeji…

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