Reps begin fresh constitution review, flay insecurity nationwide

By EMMAN OVUAKPORIE
ABUJA—The increasing  insecurity in the country took centre- stage at the House of Representatives yesterday, even as it began fresh amendment of the constitution.

After three hours of closed-door session, the House announced that it had resolved to constitute a 37-member committee to begin another round of constitution amendment to address key issues that could not be addressed by the 6th National Assembly.

It was, however, gathered that the issue of office accommodation attracted concerns among members at the closed session.
Reps were said to have expressed dismay over the inability of the National Assembly to put in place appropriate accommodation for smooth legislative operations.

Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal said: “At our executive session, we deliberated on the security of the country, particularly the National Assembly.

“We also received briefings from our ad-hoc committee on selection. We also resolved to set up a committee to review the constitution. The committee will be made up of 37 members, drawn from every state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.”

On the issue of national security, the House decided to avoid an open debate on the matter because of its sensitive nature.

Sponsor of the motion, Abimbola Oluwafemi Daramola, ACN, Ekiti State, told Vanguard that the matter was discussed at the executive session and might not be debated in plenary any longer.

The House restricted a motion it had slated for debate on its Order Paper for yesterday to a closed door discussion.

The motion specifically sought the establishment of a department of Homeland Security in the country.
Other prayers of the motion include:

*To urge security agencies to improve upon their current level of intelligence gathering and response, information sharing and emergency preparedness;

*To constitute a committee to, among other things, invite the State Security Service Director-General to explain the remote and immediate causes of the series of terrorism-related violence and to explore the best possible for re-organizing the nation’s internal security system.

*To urge the President to establish a Department of Homeland Security to among other things work, interface and coordinate other security agencies in the fight against internal security challenges”

The question of accommodation offices for lawmakers arose when the ad-hoc committee on welfare and accommodation briefed the House, hinting that most members might not get office accommodation immediately.

Shortly after the inauguration of the 7th National Assembly, the two presiding officers of the House, Tambuwal and deputy speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, inspected facilities in the House of Representatives and announced that the new office building, which was supposed to provide 178 offices for members, would not be ready till the end of August.

Ihedioha lamented that lawmakers might have to work with some level of discomfort until the offices were ready.
However, many lawmakers said they would not want to stay in the make-shift arrangement that consists of cubicles and make shift offices occupied by their predecessors.