POLITICS
KONGONET Calls for Stronger, All Inclusive Constitution in Nigeria
From Joseph Amedu, Lokoja
Kogi NGOs network (KONGONET) has called for a stronger and all-inclusive constitution that would pave the way for accelerated development in Nigeria.
KONGONET made the call in a communique issued at the end of a one-day stakeholders town hall meeting seeking for memoranda on constitutional review of the National Assembly held in Lokoja.
Signed by KONGONET Chairperson Amb.
Idris Ozovehe Muraina, and the Executive Director, Initiative for Grassroot Advancement in Nigeria, (INGRA) Hamza Aliyu, the body encouraged all Nigerians to join the conversation and contribute towards shaping a better future for the nation.According to the communique, KONGONET is committed to actively participating in the ongoing constitutional review process.
The communique explained that civil society organizations in Kogi state are passionate about the alteration on Federal Structure and Power Devolution (especially section 2(2)), Local Government Autonomy, Nigerian Police and Security Architecture, Electoral Reforms for a Stronger INEC, Gender issues, Immunity Clause Review, State Access to Mining and the alteration of section 9 to insert referendum to bring constitutional alteration into effect without presidential assent.
“The Committee invites submissions on a wide range of thematic areas including the following thematic areas: Federal Structure and Power Devolution Local Government Autonomy, Public Revenue, Fiscal Federation, and Revenue Allocation, Nigerian Police and Security Architecture, Judicial Reforms, Electoral Reforms for a Stronger INEC, Socio-Economic and Cultural Rights (Chapter 2)Traditional Institutions, Gender Issues, Strengthening Oversight Institutions, Residency and Indigene Provisions, Immunity Clause Review, The National Assembly Process of State Creation, State Access to Mining With additional memoranda promoting good governance and national well-being also welcomed.
“The deadline for submissions is April 10, 2024, and against this backdrop, the leadership of KONGONET have called for a town hall meeting. In attendance were members of various thematic networks in the state and media houses” the communique stated.
The communique observed that, “Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution empowers the National Assembly to amend the constitution through a rigorous process requiring a two-thirds majority vote in both houses and subsequent approval by two-thirds of state houses of assembly.
“Based on the principles of democracy and social justice, the Nigerian Constitution emphasizes popular sovereignty, guaranteeing the participation of its citizens in governance as enshrined in Section 14 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
“This constitutional review process presents a crucial opportunity for KONGONET to advocate for positive change that reflects the needs and aspirations of our Kogites.
“Networks and organizations with similar thematic areas should work and adopt related thematic areas from the call for memoranda and collaborate to develop a memorandum or memoranda for onward submission”.
It would be recalled that, on March 11, 2024, the House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review issued a call for memoranda to solicit proposals for amendments to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as Amended).
The Abia Chapter of the INEC Staff Welfare Association (ISWA) has warned its members to uphold the integrity of the commission and guard against the culture of manipulating election results.
The Abia Chairman of the association, Mr Collins Eze, gave the advice at the group’s general meeting and end-of-year party in Umuahia.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of the ceremony, Eze said that the staff members were adequately aware of their enormous responsibility and should ensure free, fair and credible elections.
He said: “We have also told our colleagues that anywhere they find themselves they should make sure that they do the needful by ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections.
“We have always told them not to allow anybody to induce them with money to manipulate election results.
“I’m happy that they have been building the capacity of our colleagues on election processes.
“So, in the coming years, we won’t have any problem in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections.”
He said that the end-of-year party was special as it afforded them the opportunity “to wine and dine together as well as thank God for sustaining them in 2024”.
Eze said that his leadership had introduced various means of assisting members in dire financial needs by providing platforms to solicit suppory for them.
He expressed gratitude to members for their support and cooperation, describing them as the “secret behind the success of this administration”.
He said that 34 of at least 350 staff members of the commission in the state retired from service in 2024.
According to him, the development has placed a huge financial burden on the association, in terms of their welfare and entitlement as members.
Report says that each member received a carton of tomato paste as Christmas gift from the association. (NAN)
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be thankful to God that its 16-year administration was not probed by the successive APC-led governments.Okechukwu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to a statement by PDP congratulating Ghanaians for the conduct of free, fair and transparent general elections.
Report says that PDP had, in a statement, said that the verdict of the people of Ghana in the presidential election was a signal to the APC that its days were numbered. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had said in the statement that the power of the people in Nigeria, just like in Ghana, would ‘surely prevail and end the APC’s oppressive rule’.This, he said, would “return Nigeria to the path of good governance, security, political stability and economic prosperity on the platform of the PDP in 2027.”However, in his reactions to Ologunagba’s statement, Okechukwu said that the PDP clan should thank God that former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, out of sheer statesmanship, had refused to probe ‘the 16 locus years of PDP administrations’.Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), described the 16 years of PDP administrations as ones full of squandering and lack of plan.He said that Nigeria had yet to recover from the humongous culture of impunity and trust deficit planted by PDP on the Nigerian soil.Okechukwu said corruption was among the culture of impunity, saying it governed the privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity value chain, a key element in the country’s industrialisation drive.“Another is the blatant rigging of the 2007 general elections which the foremost beneficiary, President Umaru Yar’Adua, out of good conscience and noble magnanimity, publicly acknowledged the malfeasance which characterised his victory,” he said.Okechukwu also mentioned what he called conscienceless sale of the legislative and ministerial quarters, the annual rentage of which, he said, was bleeding the country’s treasury.“Another one is the neglect of $23 billion Greenfield Refinery, which could have saved over $70 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products and which simulated the economic hardship of today,” he said.On why, for nine years, the APC administration could not fix those challenges, he recalled the efforts made by the Buhari administration to reopen talks on the Greenfield Refinery which, according to him, the Chinese regrettably rebuffed.The former VON director-general said that Nigerians were not in a hurry to forget the deliberate breach of the rotational convention of president from the north to the south.He said that the country could not also forget the utter disregard for Section 7 of the PDP’s constitution which expressly mandated zoning.Okechukwu advised the PDP not to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by assuming that citizens would easily forget how they were put in the harms way.He said that PDP should thank God that Buhari and Tinubu did not want to probe them, adding “that’s why Nigerians cannot decipher the difference between the two political parties.” (NAN)
Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) says that Local Government Administration is central to democracy in Nigeria as it ensures grassroots governance and service delivery at the local level.This is contained in a statement signed by Dr Michael Nwoko, the Chief of Staff to the lawmaker in Abuja on Monday.Nwoko said this on the occasion of the presentation of an award “Icon of Hope” to him by the Association of Local Government Vice Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGOVC).
He was represented by his Chief of Staff. He said that the importance of local government administration in the country could not be overemphasised, as it was the bedrock of democracy.According to him, local governments in Nigeria play key roles in the country’s democracy by promoting participatory democracy, providing services, and representing citizens.“Local Governments help determine local needs and how to meet them. They also act as a link between the centre, state, and local people.“They are created to decentralise power and bring the government closer to the people. They perform both mandatory and concurrent functions.“It is in view of this that I took it upon myself to enhance the viability of local governments through the Paris and London club loan refunds,”he said.Dr Folashade Olabanji-Oba, ALGOVC National Chairman, while presenting the award at its 7th Annual National Conference, said the award was in recognition of the lawmaker’s significant contributions to strengthening local government administration.She highlighted Nwoko’s critical role in ensuring the Paris and London Club loan refunds, a financial breakthrough she said enhanced the capacity of local governments nationwide.(NAN)
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