* Seek more seats for FCT in NASS
By Terungwa Tyowase, Abuja
Barring last minute changes ,the joint constitution review committee of the National Assembly will be faced with another tenure debate for the office of President of Federal Republic of Nigeria and State Governors of the 36 states.
The National Assembly will equally receive a bill for the restructuring of the Federal Capital Territory .
The tenure amendment bill being put together by some acclaimed progressive-minded lawmakers in conjunction with a famous civil society organisation with foreign funding seeks a single term of 7 years for the President and state Governors, Citizenship Daily gathered on good authority.
According to our source, the restructuring of the Federal Capital Territory is aimed at creating for the FCT a Mayor as well as expand it’s senatorial districts to three with 6 House of Representative seats . The Abuja Municipal Area Council and Gwagwalada will have a House of Representative seats each.
This will be the second attempt at cutting the tenure of the President and Governors to a single one. It was first attempted in 2010 when the bill was first proposed but didn’t see the light of day.
Our source who is head of the Non-governmental organisation saddled with the responsibility to spearhead the amendments told Citizenship Daily in confidence that the lawmakers behind the bill have requested to make further consultations to get the tacit approvals from the President before making a formal presentation to the Constitution amendment committees of the Senate and House of Representatives.
The source stated that the idea behind the single term is to first take out an additional year from the executive tenure and to most importantly reduce the pressure on the policy that comes with second term elections.
The civil society argued that,” the reality is that most executives work for only two years in there first term , the other two years are devoted to there second terms and when they secure the second terms, they just focus on enriching themselves”.
He added: “So we agreed with some lawmakers that while it will be difficult to change to parliamentary system of government , why can’t we reduce the number of years and this second term syndrome that helps no society.
“You will be surprised that some of our sponsors are from where we adopted this two terms of four years each, and this is because we are not practicing this system the way they thought us or how they do it”.
“When you continue to do one thing over and over and, it is not working you have to change it”.
Speaking further , the civil society head explained that funding channels have already being created ,adding that “we asked our co-sponsors and partners why they wanted the President’s approval and they told us that they want to assure him that the amendment will not disintegrate Nigeria and that it will also not affect his two terms. That the amendment will not affect him and he will also not benefit from it. It will be to the overall best interest of Nigeria”.
On the FCT, he said, “The original structure of the FCT allows for a Mayor but since the return to democracy , that has yet to happen . So we intend to also make a bill or presentation that will reset the FCT as well as allow real democracy to thrive by expanding the senatorial and House of Representatives seats if the argument is that the FCT has the status of a state “.
He continued,”we feel these amendments will further deepen democracy and enhance development across Nigeria”.
” Consultations are still on-going ,the bill is already put together, we will lobby far and wide to achieve this. This is because we believe it will be the best at this moment”.
