Senate begins consideration of constitutional amendment bills

Senate on Tuesday began consideration of constitutional amendment earlier rejected by President Muhammadu Buhari.

There are seventeen clauses in the earlier bills which President Muhammadu Buhari declined assent.

Those observations were referred to Senate Committee on Judiciary and Legal Matters headed by Senator David Umaru which he turned in the last week.

The report indicated that there were flaws that made President Muhammadu Buhari to decline assent which it adopted and reflected in the affected bills.

The report further revealed that extant laws on some aspects of the economy were adequate enough, hence, there was no need to capture the affected area in the constitution.

“That some of the observations raised by Mr President are rational and convincing. As a result, the Committee adopted those observations and reflected them appropriately.

“That Mr President outrightly withheld assent to some of the bills on grounds that the provisions of the extant acts are adequate enough to address the issues raised in the proposed legislation.”

“That it is not in every aspect of the economy that should be regulated by the law, but rather by policies of government. “, the report indicated.

The presentation of amended bills followed the report which was laid before the Senate on Wednesday last week.

However, five out of seventeen amendment bills went through the first reading on Tuesday preparatory to passing the executive version into law.