Restructuring requires constitution amendment – Dogara

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara has said that the only way to restructure Nigeria from its current composition is through an amendment to the 1999 Constitution.

“Agitations for restructuring of the governance framework for Nigeria can only be done through alterations of the Constitution,” Dogara said at a public hearing organized by the House adhoc panel on the review of the constitution yesterday in Abuja. The committee is chaired by Deputy Speaker Yussuf Suleiman Lasun.

Dogara also said that the National Assembly would ensure a level playing ground once a consensus was reached on restructuring.

“I wish to say that the House of Representatives and indeed the National Assembly is ready to do its part in terms of amending the constitution when consensus has been reached on any matter by stakeholders and Nigerian citizens,” he said.

Dogara said the ongoing constitution amendment process by the House is done in phases and expressed satisfaction on some recommendations that are geared towards reducing the time for litigation in courts.

“Furthermore, we note that the age limit for various offices currently contained in the constitution is the minimum not maximum. The wisdom of raising the minimum age for various offices should be appraised further to ensure that brilliant and exceptional persons are not shut out on grounds of age,” he said.

One of the bills being considered by the ad-hoc panel is a Bill for an Act to alter Section 291 of the 1999 Constitution to provide for uniform mandatory retirement age of 70 years for all judicial officers.