Senate to hold national public hearing June 3 on constitutional review

President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, says a national public hearing on the review of the 1999 Constitution will be held from Thursday, June 3 to Friday, June 4 in Abuja.

Lawan made the announcement on Tuesday, during plenary in a letter addressed to him by the Chairman of the Constitution Review Committee, Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege.

According to the Senate President, the two-day National Public Hearing on proposals to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 is scheduled to be held at the African Hall of the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja.

He described the zonal public hearings held across the six geo-political zones of the country as “quite successful”.

Lawan appealed to Nigerians to seize the opportunity provided by the national public hearing commencing on Thursday to state their positions on issues that would improve the quality of governance.
“Let me also congratulate the members of the Constitution Review Committee of the Senate, who had conducted the public hearings across the country.

“[And] in fact, the report we received has shown that in all the centres, the public hearings were quite successful.

“I want to also appeal to Nigerians to take the opportunity of the national public hearing that will start on Thursday.

“This is an effort that the National Assembly – particularly the Senate is attached to.

“We believe that we must do whatever is necessary to provide a platform for Nigerians to hear their views, give their positions and canvass for whatever they feel would make our country better, and make governance more efficient and successful.

“Like I said before, we have no preconceived positions on anything and, therefore, this is the time for our citizens to take the opportunity,” he said.