NASS
The National Assembly would commence voting on proposals for the establishment of state police, special parliamentary seats for women, local government autonomy and other bills seeking to alter the 199 Constitution (as amended) on December 9.
Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, who announced this, yesterday, said the House would hold debate on the proposals for the constitution alteration today and tomorrow.
According to Daily Sun, apart from the state police, reserved seat and local government autonomy bills, others bills that will be considered by the parliament are independent candidacy, citizenship for foreign spouses of Nigerians, separation of the office of Minister/Commissioner of Justice from the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation/state, timeline for the presentation of treaties to the National Assembly and constitutional roles for traditional rulers.
Others include proposals for the establishment of the Electoral Offences Commission, which would be saddled with the investigation and prosecution of electoral offences and related matters; the separation of the office of the governor from the office of deputy governor on issues of qualification and disqualification. Under the extant laws, both offices are treated as one.
However, Daily Sun gathered that the National Assembly joint committee on Constitution Review, approved six special seats for women in the Senate, which shall be domiciled in the six geo-political zones, against one Senate seat proposed originally.
A report of the committee, obtained by Daily Sun, yesterday, indicated that the joint committee approved an amendment of Section 48(1) of the 1999 Constitution to read thus: “The Senate shall consist of three senators from each state and one from the Federal Capital Territory and one additional senator from each of the six geo-political zones of the Federation, who shall be a woman.”
However, the committee retained the original proposal for one special seat per state and the FCT for women in the House of Representatives.
It also retained the original proposal for one special seat per senatorial zone for women in the respective state Houses of Assembly across the country.
For State Police, the Joint Committee approved the alteration of Section 84 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to substitute the Police Service Commission with Federal Police Service Commission.
It also approved the alteration of Sections 214 and 215 of the constitution to provide for the establishment of federal and state police and appointment of the Inspector General of Police ( IGP) and Chief of Police of a State.
