The Senate has stated that it would give priority to the state police and devolution of power bills in the course of the Constitution review exercise.
This came to the fore on Wednesday during the committees’ inaugural meeting.
The Chairman of the committees who is also the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, announced the names of the 47-member committee to review the 1999 Constitution.
Barau said the committee is unique in the sense that it has all female senators as members.
The chairman promised that the committee would operate differently from previous committees to achieve its set objectives.
During the contributions, the lawmaker representing Niger East, Sen Sani Musa, noted that the bills should be sorted based on importance.
He said, “We have learnt a thing from the last Assembly when most of the bills were not prioritised.
“So, this time, let us prioritise and take the ones that are very critical like the issue of the state police, devolution of powers, and areas that we feel will have a direct impact on our Constitution. When we do this, it would fast track the Constitution review.”
The chairman of the committee, Barau, noted that all the observations would be raised to be used as a road map in the workings of the committee.
Earlier, Barau said that the Ad- hoc committee on Constitution Review has set 24 months to complete the exercise.
He noted that the committee will work in synergy with that of the House of Representatives for constitution alteration.
Barau said, “I wish to quickly remind you that we will work in synergy with our counterparts in the House of Representatives, and we will be very strategic in the conduct of our affairs.
“We will be guided by the laws and rules of legislative business, including precedence where it does not conflict with any known rule, while also being innovative where we can.
“The committee will strongly consult and engage critical stakeholders in a way that will ensure that bills passed by the National Assembly will be approved by the State Houses of Assembly and assented to by Mr. President.”
