Members of the National Assembly on Friday, faulted President Muhammadu Buhari’s position on the report of the 2014 National conference, insisting that parts of the report would be used for the amendment of the nation’s constitution.
The President, had in an interview in May, dismissed the 2014 National Conference report, saying he wanted it to go into the archives.
Also, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Babachir Lawal, in an interview with journalists on Friday last week, said that the conference was “a job for the boys.”
But members of the House of Representatives, who spoke with Saturday PUNCH, said that some portions of the report of the conference would be included in the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution.
The House Committee on Constitution Review had announced on Thursday that it would use the report as a “working document” for the constitution review exercise.
The committee is chaired by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Mr. Suleiman Lasun.
“Copies of the report have been circulated to members of the committee to go through and come up with recommendations to the committee, while the consultants to the committee have been given the report to advise the committee on how to go about it.
“Some of the salient proposals in the report will be turned into draft bills, which will be presented to the House for adoption and passage”, the deputy speaker had disclosed in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Wole Oladimeji.
Implementation, solution to Nigeria’s problems – Senators
It was also gathered that the Senate Committee would next week adopt the report as the House did last week.
Some senators said the implementation of the recommendations contained in the 2015 Confab report, would go a long way to solve the various social, economic and political challenges currently facing Nigeria.
The senators, who spoke in separate interviews with one of our correspondents in Abuja, agreed that the Confab report represented the genuine opinion of Nigerians from all walks of life across the country on how to faithfully move the nation forward.
They commended the House of Representatives for adopting it as part of the amendments to the 1999 Constitution whenever its committee on Constitution.
In his own submission, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, who is also of the upper chamber constitution review committee, maintained that the problems facing the country would be solved to a great extent when all, or part of the confab report was implemented.
He also cautioned the All Progressives Congress controlled Federal Government against playing politics with the report in the interest of the entire nation.
He said, “ The most sincere way to actually address the various social and economic problems currently facing the country is to put politics aside and allow the National Assembly use all or part of the recommendations in the Confab report during its constitution review exercise.
“The report is the best thing that could happen to this country because it contained provisions and recommendations that could assist us as a nation. The problem of Nigeria will continue if we neglect the Confab report.” Also, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Anti – Corruption and Financial Crimes, Senator Chukwuka Utazi, advised top government functionaries at all tiers, to forget about politics and explore ways to move the nation forward.
He said, “The issue of politics should end after election. Both the party in government and the opposition should collaborate towards ensuring that policies and programmes aimed at moving the country forward, are implemented.
“The Federal Government should revisit the issue of the Confab report because apart from the fact that it contained recommendations that could restructure the country and end all the social crises currently being experienced, it was carried out with the taxpayers’ money.
“There is nothing wrong with the provisions contained in the Confab report, the senate would also ensure that part of the report form part of the review we would carry out in the 1999 Constitution.”
Efforts to get the Senate spokesperson, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, did not succeed as he was said to have travelled to Saudi Arabia.
Report not useless- Reps
Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, some members of the House of Representatives, contrary to the position of the President, said there was nothing wrong with using the Confab’s report as a guide for the new constitution.
They also noted that the Lasun-led committee did not have the final say on the content of what would be part of the constitution.
“The process of amending the constitution is rigorous. It does not mean that because the committee said it would use the report, then it becomes law automatically”, the Chairman, House Committee on Works, Mr. Toby Okechukwu, stated.
Okechukwu, who is from Enugu State, explained that the committee’s proposals would be subjected to public debate before getting to the general House.
He added that the general House would in turn look at the proposals before taking a final position.
Speaking in a similar vein, a former Chairman, House Committee on Gas Resources, Mr. Bassey Ewa, said some portions of the report could be used “based on their merit.”
He argued that not everything in the document was controversial or “bad.”
“The Federal Government spent a lot of money to put the conference together and we sent some of our best brains to produce this document.
“So, there is nothing really wrong with picking some of the recommendations on their merit for inclusion in the constitution.”
The Chief Whip of the House, Mr. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, told Saturday PUNCH that some recommendations in the report could be extracted.
Ado-Doguwa, a lawmaker from Kano State, described the report as “controversial”, adding that a wholesale adoption by the House was not practicable.
“It is not out of course if we as a House decide to use the controversial 2014 Confab report as food for thought in our legislative process.
“We can extract some relevant parts for further legislative actions but obviously not to be automatically adopted,” he stated.
The Leader of the House, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, summed up the views of many of the members.
Gbajabiamila, who is also the Leader of the ruling majority All Progressives Congress, said that the fact of President Muhammadu Buhari seeing the Confab as a waste of resources did not mean that the entire report was useless.
Gbajabiamila explained in an electronic mail to Saturday PUNCH, “The House will consider any idea or proposal that will unify Nigeria, make it a stronger nation, strengthen our democracy and move the country forward.”
Presidency insists on Buhari’s rejection of report
But despite the decision of the National Assembly to adopt the report of the 2014 National Conference for the amendment of the 1999 Constitution, the Presidency said President Buhari’s position on the document had not changed.
The Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, stated this in an interview with Saturday PUNCH.
Adesina was asked if the President had or would change his position on the report in view of the action of the lawmakers.
“Please refer to what the President said on the national conference in interviews published on May 29. That position stands,” he simply said.
When the presidential spokesman was also asked if the report should be part of the constitution instead of being put into archives as the President said in the interview, he replied, “The May 29 interview also answers this question.”
Culled from The Punch
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