Governors want NASS to harmonise positions on review of constitution

The Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) on
Wednesday night, called on the National
Assembly to harmonise its positions on the
review of the 1999 Constitution. The Chairman of the forum, Alhaji Abdul aziz
Yari, made the call while answering
questions from newsmen after an extra
ordinary meeting of the forum at the old
Banquet hall, the Presidential Villa, Abuja

Yari, who is also the Governor of Zamfara
stated that the forum convened the meeting
to solely deliberate on the review of the
1999 Constitution. This he became necessary in view of its
importance to the ongoing debate on
restructuring in the country. The governor noted that the Deputy Senate
President, Ike Ekweremadu, had earlier
briefed members of the forum on the
harmonised position of the two houses in the
National Assembly. He, however, disclosed that the forum
planned to invite Speaker of the House of
Representatives or his representative to
come and present the House’s position on
the matter during forum’s next meeting `The information we are having from the
House of Representatives is that, the
presentation made by Deputy Senate
President to the forum is Senate’s position,
it is not harmonised. “So, probably by next week, Oct. 18, the
Speaker of the House of Representatives or
his representative will come and make his
own presentation to us so that we look at
it,’’ he said. He said that the forum had wanted to invite
the Conference of Speakers of the State
Houses of Assembly so that it could
collectively look at what was submitted to
better the nation. The governor said the forum noted that there
were so many issues of national interest: the
devolution of power, political agitations,
taken into consideration in the amendment of
the Constitution. According to Yari, the governors agree that
the constitution is being amended for
posterity and not for any other interest. “We are looking at the amendment as very
important so that as leaders we can move
the country forward.’’ The NGF had earlier in the week signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG),
to facilitate dialogue and develop joint
programmes to promote sub-national
economic competitiveness in Nigeria.