In Nigeria, chair of constitution review committee says constitutional review will be completed by end of 2025

The Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives. Benjamin Kalu, has disclosed that the House received 40 bills regarding the review and amendment of the nation’s Constitution. He added that the House is considering the December 2025 deadline to complete the review and amendment. Kalu, who doubles as the Chairman, Constitution Review Committee, stated this on Wednesday at the maiden meeting of the committee while addressing journalists in Abuja. He said, “It is the view of Mr. Speaker that we set a realistic timeline that does not conflict with electoral activities which would advertently or inadvertently affect the alteration process, specifically, December 2025, the time we are looking at to conclude the activities of this committee. [...] The deputy speaker also called on the committee members to take the assignment seriously, reminding them of the reasons the attempt by previous assemblies did not yield the required results. “In the last constitution review efforts, there were some key constitution amendment proposals that did not pass either because we did not fully understand their provisions or we did not have enough time to agree on them. “An example was the proposal to create additional seats for women in Federal and State Legislative Houses. Let us use this opportunity to understand this proposal, hoping that those who are the promoters of this particular amendment will start their advocacy timely and be more thorough and comprehensive, reaching the stakeholders to control the mindsets of their representatives,” Kalu stated. The 37-man committee is made up of representatives of the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory. Kalu pledged the provision of adequate resources to enable the committee to deliver on its mandate. “The secretariat will be very well equipped to function optimally and deliver results. We have created a partnership with the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre which has committed to supporting the work of this committee as they have done in previous constitution review efforts,” he said. The committee is billed for inauguration on February 26, 2024.
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