Nigeria needs new constitution not amendment - Okowa

Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, says Nigeria needs a new constitution to accommodate emerging issues of good governance and greater interest of Nigerians, and not an amendment being proposed by the National Assembly.

Okowa stated this when he received on courtesy visit, the Senate sub-committee on review of the 1999 Constitution led by Senator James Manager, at Government House, Asaba.

He said that a new constitution for the country had become imperative in view of observed lacunas in the 1999 Constitution and called for the insertion of a clause to allow for the re-writing of the constitution while it would continue to be in operation until a new one was ready.

“There is no doubt that there is still a lot to work on in our constitution to have a near perfect document, and I know that the National Assembly has continued over time, to cause some of the amendments to be.

“I thank God that those sent here are familiar with the zone; so, when the people truly speak they would understand. But, I also wished that some persons from other zones actually had the opportunity to come down here to hear the voices of our people directly because sometimes we do not understand the extent of the pains that people of the Niger Delta truly suffer in our nation.

“We believe in one federation; we believe in the unity of Nigeria, but we will continue to strongly ask for equity in our federation.”

Okowa said some amendments were made recently but on a general note, we are also aware that the constitution itself appears to have just been hurriedly put up just before the 1999 elections and handed over.

“I wished it was possible to start the whole process again and to re-write the constitution and also believe that there may be a need for us to look very closely on ways and means of re-writing the constitution as a new document even when the current constitution exists,’’ Okowa said.

He recalled that the process of reviewing the 1999 Constitution started in the 7th Assembly, but that it was not possible to push it forward because of certain disagreements at that time.

Reiterating the necessity of a new constitution for the country, he said “if we look deeply as lawmakers we would be able to create a window for that purpose because every year or in every assembly, we continue to engage ourselves in one amendment or the other.

The governor urged the National Assembly to look into power devolution to the states, review of revenue allocation formula, oil derivation and state police in the amendment to enable chairman of Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission to lay revenue allocation formula proposals directly before the lawmakers.

Earlier, Senator Manager said that the committee which comprises senators from Edo, Bayelsa and Delta were in the state to conduct a two-day public hearing on the amendment of the 1999 Constitution.

He said that aside ‘Spiritual Books’, the constitution was the most important book for any country.