Two organisations, Lawyers in Defence of Human Rights, and National Assembly Support Group, have said the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu’s legal experience will help Speaker Tajudeen Abbas and the 10th National Assembly’s constitution reforms exercise.
The groups in a joint statement signed by their leaders, Obinna Nwabueze, Sebastian Anumege, F.C Jones and Surveyor Durukweaku, said Kalu, who will double as the chairman of the Special Ad-hoc Committee on Constitution Review, will do a good job in ensuring that the 10th Assembly will surpass the gains made by the 9th House of Representatives on constitution reforms.
According to the groups, Kalu in his first four years as a lawmaker, has shown competence and capacity in the discharge of his legislative duties.
They recalled that one of Kalu’s Bills in the 9th House, which sought to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, to delete the item “prisons” in the Exclusive Legislative List and redesignate it as “Correctional Services” in the Concurrent Legislative List, was assented to by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The groups expressed optimism that the Deputy Speaker as a lawyer will do exceptionally well as the Chairman of the Constitution Review Committee, which according to parliamentary tradition, is headed by the Deputy Speaker in the House of Representatives.
The statement reads, “Since the return of democratic rule, there has been attempt by various Assemblies to amend the constitution. While the exercise by the legislative arm was futile in past assemblies, however remarkable success was achieved by the parliament under the leadership of Former Senate President Ahmed Lawan and Former Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.
“The 9th National Assembly had while assuming office in June 2019, promised to repeal the offending provisions encumbering the country’s democracy by reworking and giving Nigerians a progressive document. Through the constitutional review process, the Senate and House of Representatives sought to restructure the government to make it more effective.
“While laudable strides were made by the lawmakers in the 9th Assembly, with some of the bills assented to by former President Muhammadu Buhari, the 10th Assembly is expected to revisit the rejected bills and more proposals that will resurface. We are optimistic that the Deputy Speaker, Kalu who will double as the Chairman Special Ad-hoc Committee on Constitution review will do a good job in ensuring that the 10th assembly will surpass the gains made by the 9th House on constitutional reforms.”