Chairman, Conference of Speakers of the 36 States of Nigeria, Rt. Hon. Abdulrahman Tambuwal has pleaded with the National Assembly to amend the Constitution that would pave way for devolution of powers.
Addressing the joint sitting of Lower and Upper legislative Chambers on Thursday when he led other Speakers to present votes of the proposed Constitutional amendment, the lawmaker lauded the 8th Senate and the House of Representatives for being courageous in amending the 1999 Constitution.
He explained that the State Houses of Assembly used the opportunity provided in Section 2(9) to exhaustively dealt with the 15 clauses transmitted to them.
“The procedure of amending the Constitution is exhaustive in Section 2(9) of the Constitution and it is clear on roles of States Houses of Assembly when it comes to altering the Constitution”, Tambuwal said.
According to him, the 8th Assembly got it right having been guided by flaws of the past which led to the failure of the Constitutional amendment, saying those clauses which were transmitted were a reflection of the people.
“We appreciated new direction of the 8th Assembly which was guided by the right thinking to forstall what happened in the 7th Assembly.
“Every proposed clause transmitted from our votes were a reflection of the people’s wishes.
“On behalf of our constituents, we want to plead for devolution of powers when the Constitution is due for amendment again”, Tambuwal maintained.