Then Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Tuesday said that the bulk of the constitution amendment proposals passed by the Seventh Senate would be included in the fresh review being carried out by the eight upper legislative chamber.

Saraki stated this in his welcome address to his colleagues who resumed from a three-week Christmas and New Year break.

He said the inclusion of the amendments carried out by the 7th Senate in the new review, would make the fresh constitution review process faster and effective.

It will be recalled that former President Goodluck Jonathan had rejected the fourth alteration to the 1999 Constitution at the twilight of his administration.


 
He cited allegations including usurping presidential powers as well as failure of the last National Assembly to adhere to strict constitutional provisions on the amendment process as his reasons for rejecting the amendment.

Saraki therefore advised the 38-member constitutional review committee chaired by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, to consolidate on the set of the last amendments already passed by the National Assembly and approved by two-thirds of the state Houses of Assembly and submit its report for passage in June this year.

He said, “Before we proceeded on the end-of -the-year recess, we constituted the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee on Constitutional Review. I would like to urge the committee to consolidate the various items that the Seventh Senate had exhaustively considered and passed as key areas to concentrate upon.

“This, in my view, will ensure that the process is expedited and the cost reduced significantly in line with our fiscal consolidation objectives. In this regards, all unnecessary travels and tours should be eliminated. It is my view that the committee should send in their report to plenary for passage on or before the 30th of June, 2016.”

Saraki also promised that the National Assembly would adopt measures aimed at ensuring a thorough, fair and prudent passage of the 2016 budget.

He also said the Eight Senate would place priority on bills that would block leakages in the system, create job opportunities, expand economic opportunities and promote fairness and integrity.

The Senate President added that the committees had been carefully chosen to serve as vehicles for effective oversight.

He said, “You would recall that I had on the occasion of the laying of the 2016 budget by Mr. President, reiterated my conviction that for a budget to play its role as a primer of the economic policy of any administration, its process must tick the boxes on efficiency, transparency, the public resources fairly allocated and judiciously implemented.

“We must, therefore, adopt stronger measures to ensure that the 2016 budget is thoroughly interrogated, swiftly considered to ensure prudence, fairness, integrity and timeliness.

“Our priority bills have been carefully chosen and adopted to enable us to lay out the legal, institutional and regulatory frameworks that would plug leakages in the revenue system, create jobs, expand economic opportunities, diversify the economy and make Nigeria a key investment destination of choice for investors.

“We must on our part deliver on these priority bills that will impact on these sectors that are the engine of growth. We must also show a sense of urgency on these bills. We must have a business-like approach to our deliberations.”

Saraki stressed the need to treat statutory reports more seriously by ensuring that they were fully considered as required by law.

At the committee levels, he urged members to ensure that referrals to committees were promptly treated within the timeframe.