By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has advised Nigerians with pressing views to build a national consensus around them to ensure the amendment of the constitution in their favour by the National Assembly and State Legislatures.
Lawan gave the advice on Thursday while declaring the National Public Hearing on the alteration to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution in Abuja.
According to him, the constitution review exercise embarked on by the 9th Assembly was imperative in view of existent flaws in its provisions which has attracted agitations.
He said, “Our country has been consistently reminded that there are flaws in our constitution.
“There is a deep concern among legislators and other stakeholders, just as there are divergent opinions on what we should do to remedy the flaws.
The Senate President observed that such agitations and constitutional amendment proposals were focused on devolving more powers to subnational governments, for resource control, greater representation and participation of women in governance and public life, return to the regional system of the post-independence era, creation of additional states and Local Government, enhanced residency and indigene rights, decentralized policing, and Local government autonomy, amongst others.
