The immediate past Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu and Director General of National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Prof. Olanrewaju Suleiman at the weekend charted a pathway for the enactment of a new constitution for the country.
The duo gave the charge during the 2nd batch of the NILDS-KAS capacity building workshop for research fellows and research staff of the Institute, observed that the Institute was established to serve as the capacity-building arm and a resource bank of the National Assembly.
He also stressed the need for the Institute to provide technical support for supporting staff of the Committees on the Review of the Constitution in the Senate, House of Representatives, and State Assemblies with a view to positioning them to guide and serve the Committees effectively, as well as to all committees of the National Assembly.
While noting that the “constitution amendment is not as easy as it appears to some onlookers, Senator Ekweremadu who piloted the process for 12 years, from the 6th to the 8th Senate, affirmed that “it is not only rigorous but enmeshed in convoluted politics, Nigeria being a pluralistic society.
“I believe NILDS could be very relevant to the constitution amendment process in the meantime. For instance, the Constitution has undergone several amendments since 2010. The global best practice is that when a law undergoes so many amendments, you repeal and re-enact it, just as we are currently doing to the Electoral Act.
“However, the manner the provisions of 1999 Constitution can be altered is already circumscribed in the document and it permits only amendments. It does not provide for how it could be repealed and a new one enacted.
“As I earlier pointed out, we tried in the 7th National Assembly to make provisions for how a new constitution could be brought into being. That proposed amendment included a referendum. That was what countries like Brazil, Kenya, etc. did. Unfortunately, somehow, it didn’t work. It was rejected.
“However, I think this is a cause NILDS should pursue. It is in a position to lead the advocacy for the streamlining of the provisions of the Constitution by laying a foundation for the procedure for creating a new Constitution.
“NILDS is also in a position to organise a retreat for the Committee members to build their capacity and also to provide an atmosphere for reflection on the issues to be considered in the amendment.
“Now that the process of amending the Constitution is, once more, in progress, I expect NILDS to follow up with the Committees to not only provide technical support as much as it can but also to work with the Committees to provide a legislative framework for a new Constitution. NILDS can, therefore, take it upon herself to see to the realisation of a new Constitution for Nigeria.”
Speaking earlier, the NILDS Director-General, Prof. Olanrewaju Suleiman reeled out various reform programmes that would help in strengthening the Parliament and the need to deepen the knowledge of relevant stakeholders on the democratic environment.
Prof. Suleiman explained that the focus of the workshop was to expose participants to some of the fundamental and inner workings of the National Assembly such as the operations of specialised committees, the relationship between the legislature at the national and sub-national levels, the relationship between supreme audit institutions and the National Assembly as well as legislative procedures for processing special oversight documents such as annual reports and other financial and accounting documents.
“The workshop also considers other issues such as inter-chamber cooperation, the operations of legislative caucuses and how to leverage on research to improve the oversight function of the Assembly.
“Since assuming responsibility as DG, I have noticed a knowledge deficit in this area as many staff do not properly understand some of these basic legislative dynamics. As a consequence, this hampers the ability of staff to properly tailor their outputs to meet the specific needs of legislators and committees.
“In my review of some of the outputs from the departments, I have noticed an apparent disconnect between research outputs and recommendations from actual legislative functions. On occasion, the outputs are abstract, highly academic and not focused on identifying concrete recommendations for legislative action.
“At the end, some of our products fall short of the requirements and needs of Members. To address this challenge, I have recently approved several templates to standardise our outputs including Bill drafting, bill analysis, information brief, policy analysis and policy brief.
“The purpose is to harmonise not only the content but also the style of presentation and make it easier for legislators to identify areas for legislative intervention,” Prof. Suleiman noted.
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