Nigeria, Bound For Greatness –Ekweremadu

The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu has
assured that the ongoing constitution amendment would address the key
constitutional challenges facing the nation, as he appealed for support and
commitment from Nigerians .

He gave the assurances in a goodwill message to Nigerians on
the occasion of the nation’s 52nd Independence Anniversary celebration.

Speaking on the setbacks suffered by the nation in its post
independence history, Senator Ekweremadu regretted that “some basic constitutional
frameworks laid by the founding fathers to engender a peaceful, united, and
prosperous nation had been gravely distorted”, but assured that the National
Assembly was poised to reengineer the 1999 Constitution to restore the nation
on the path of true and irreversible greatness.

According to a release from the office of the Special
Adviser on Media Matters Mr Uche Anikwe, the deputy president of the Senate
said the National Public Hearing on Constitution Review would hold on October
11 and 12, 2012 in Abuja.

Issues for consideration at the public hearing include
devolution of powers among the tiers of government, fiscal federalism, state
creation, the Nigerian Police, local government system, rotation of executive
offices, residency and indigene provisions, immunity clause, recognition of the
six geopolitical zones in the Constitution as well as Executive and Judicial
reforms. These, according to the Deputy Senate President were informed by the
memoranda submitted by Nigerians to the Committee.

Urging Nigerians to seize the opportunity of the public
hearing and the entire constitution amendment project to bare their minds on
the way forward for the nation, Senator Ekweremadu enjoined the nation’s
leaders and the citizenry to “invest total political will, patriotism,
altruism, and fair-mindedness in the ongoing project to make Nigeria a better
place for this and future generations.”

He said, “the Constitution remains the number one law, the
foundation upon which a nation is built, and for the Nigerian structure to
stand the test of time, meet the visions of our founding fathers and the
aspirations of the wider Nigerian population, then we have no choice than to
subdue all sectional, ethnic, personal, and narrow group interests to national
interest to get it right.

Nneka Amaechi Nnadi, Abuja