From Fred Itua and From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The National Assembly joint committee reviewing the 1999 constitution has rejected eight, out of 55 bills submitted by lawmakers from both chambers and members of the public.
It has however settled for 47 bills, which are expected to be presented to each of the two chambers later in the month or early March for final voting.
Chairman of the Senate committee on the review of the 1999 constitution and Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege, last Friday in Abuja at a joint retreat of the Senate and House of Representatives committees on constitution amendment, blamed the delay in the passage of the various segmented bills on the outbreak of COVID-19.
He had said: “I am therefore most delighted to see that we have progressed to the point where we can now jointly decide on the report to be presented to our colleagues for voting in plenary at the end of this month.”
In a chat with Daily Sun yesterday, a member of the committee dismissed claims that a report had been prepared, explaining that it was too early to have it.
He said half of the work on the ongoing amendment is half way gone, with the voting at the committee level by members of the two chambers.
He said when the bills are presented to the two chambers, dissenting voices maybe in the minority.
He said: “There is no interim or final report yet on the constitution review exercise. They have worked on 55 bills on constitution review. They’ve done that. By the end of the month, the final report will be ready. That is when they’ll expect any report.
“The bills agreed upon by the the joint committee from the House of Representatives and the Senate are 47. These final bills will be voted for or against by the two chambers.”
Meanwhile, The Joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review has recommended the separation of the office of the Attorney General of the Federation from the Minister of Justice.
According to reports, the recommendation was considered to avoid the visible politicisation of the two critical offices.The lawmakers envisage that the minister of justice will deal with policy and administrative issues, while the AGF will oversee dispensation of justice without fear or favour
However, the proposed constitutional amendment has thrown up a diverse opinion from the legal community. While some Senior legal practitioners (lawyers) in the country, who spoke with Daily Sun in separate interviews on Sunday, threw their weight behind the move, others who are opposed of it rather called for a review of the appointment process.
Ahmed Raji (SAN) who threw his weight behind the proposal stated that “the occupant of the office of the Attorney General of the Federation should be a career person, while that of the Minister of Justice should be a politician.