FULL LIST: Senate establishes committee to amend Nigeria’s constitution

The Senate on Wednesday constituted a 45-member committee to review and amend Nigeria’s Constitution.

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the composition of the committee during the plenary.

He said the committee will be chaired by the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, while the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, will be the deputy chairman.

Senator Akpabio explained that the 1999 constitution needs a review because it contains many issues that need to be “put right.”

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He also highlighted the introduction of Artificial Intelligence as a major factor for the need to amend the constitution.

“There is a need for us to touch some aspects of the constitution to bring them in line with current realities particularly with the era of artificial intelligence and some of the things we have observed that need to be put right,” Mr Akpabio said.

The senate president also directed that all speakers of the State House of Assemblies should be invited to the National Assembly for interaction as part of the constitution amendment process.

“The Deputy Senate President, you also invite speakers of all state houses of assemblies for interaction with the Senate President before we go into the major issues of presenting the different memos,” he said.

Composition

Akpabio explained that members of the amendment committee were selected from all states and geo-political zones. He said all political parties with representation in the Senate also have members in the committee.

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“It is all political parties and all senatorial districts, all zones are taken care of.

“We are taking one senator per state because we are talking about the constitution amendment. One senator per state and then we are also taking one senator representing each geo-political zone.

“So, in case you noticed two senators from one state, that would mean that one of them represents the zone, while there’s one senator from that zone representing that state.”

The senate president noted that the constitution amendment committee will be inaugurated next Tuesday.

“The committee will be inaugurated on Tuesday so that they can start functioning immediately.

“All the motions and resolutions pertaining to constitution amendment that have been brought to the Senate since last year will now be channelled straight to that committee,” he said.

Aside from Messrs Barau and Bamidele, other members of the constitution amendment committee are:

Deputy Senate Leader, Oyelola Ashiru

Whip of the Senate, Ali Ndume

Deputy Whip, Nwebonyi Onyeka

Minority Leader, Abba Moro

Minority Whip, Osita Ngwu

Deputy Minority Leader, Oyewunmi Olalere

Minority Whip Sani Hangar

Enyinnaya Abaribe

Binus Dauda Yaroe

Bassey Etim Akpan

Ifeanyi Ubah

Abdul Ningi

Seriake Dickson

Agom Jarigbe

Ned Nwoko

Adams Oshiomole

Danjuma Goje

Osita Izunaso

Abdulhamid Ahmed

Khalid Mustapha

Sani Rufai

Mutari Dandutse

Yahaya Abdullahi

Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan

Adebule Oluranti

Ugodiya Akwashiki

Sani Musa

Adeola Olamilekan

Adeniyi Ayodele

Abdulfatai Buhari

Simon Lalong

Aliyu Wamako

Shuaibu Lau

Ahmed Lawan

Sahabi Alhaji Ya’u

Ireti Kingigbe

Ipalibo Banigo

Zonal representation

Adamu Aliero to represent ( North-west)

Orji Uzor Kalu to represent (South-east)

Francis Fadahunsi to represent (South-west)

Bomai Mohammed to represent (North-east)

Barinada Mpigi (South-south)

Umar Sadiq Sulaiman (North-central)