Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN), has given indication that the National Assembly will expedite action on the recommendations from the recently concluded National Conference if President Goodluck Jonathan sends a bill derived from the report raised at the five-month long dialogue to the federal lawmakers.
Ndoma-Egba gave the indication on Saturday night while speaking with journalists at his Calabar residence shortly after returning from the Cross River Central senatorial district which he represents in the National Assembly.
The National Conference presided by a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi, which officially ended last Thursday, had in a whole adopted a “Draft Proposals to Amend the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Ndoma-Egba, who was responding to a question as to whether the National Assembly was expecting the report to be forwarded to it, said: “Whether you call it draft or not, they will still have to submit it to the president who appointed them. The president remains their principal and that is why they, rightly so, have taken their report to him. What he does with the report is left to him (President). I am in no position to speculate on what he intends to do with the report.
“It is up to the president. If he sends it to the National Assembly, we will deal with it with the dispatch and importance that it deserves.”
On the recommendation in the draft for the creation of 18 states across the six geo-political zones in the country, the senate leader said for any additional state to be created in Nigeria, the current provisions of the 1999 Constitution with regards to state creation has to be met.
“There is a process for creating states. There is a constitutional process for creating states and to the best of my knowledge, the provisions of the constitution concerning creation of states has not been amended. It will still have to be subjected to the constitutional procedure,” Ndoma-Egba said.
While at the central senatorial district, the senate leader had conducted massive sensitisation of his constituents on the need for them to collect their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) as well as enlist their names during the forth coming Continuous Voters’ Registration (CVR).
Ndoma-Egba had also collected his PVC at the polling unit in his homestead, Akparabong, Ikom Local Government Area, where he was registered to vote in 2011.
He commented on the distribution of the PVCs, saying the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had carried out the exercise creditably.
“I think INEC clearly has put a lot into the exercise because generally, from the reports I get beyond where I collected my own card, materials generally arrived on time and the strategies and methodology applied. The voters register were on display. If you check your name, even when you don’t have your Temporary Card (TC), there is a method by which you will be sorted out. So, I think that largely they have done a good job,” he said.
In stating that the provision of the PVCs would help in refining the electoral process in the country, Ndoma-Egba said: “It speaks volumes for the future of our democracy. It is increasingly becoming more technology-dependent will begin to eliminate all the tricks and gimmicks that politicians try to bring into the electoral process.
“So, with time, I see our electoral process having greater integrity and the integrity of the electoral process will also impact on governance because people will have more stake in those they have elected, and those elected will have a better sense of authority to deliver to the expectations of the people.” Thisday
