The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, has called for the alteration of the 1999 constitution to create a role for traditional rulers given their closeness to the people at the grassroots.
Abbas, who stated this in Abuja on Thursday day two of the ongoing ‘Open Week’ celebration to mark the first anniversary of the 10thAssembly, said the House constituted two special Standing Committees to drive the process of actualising constitutional autonomy for local governments, as well as granting recognition to traditional institutions in Nigeria.
He said, “The 10th House, under my leadership, will do its best to give recognition to the traditional rulers during our constitution amendment exercise. Many amendments were made in the past to grant constitutional recognition to traditional rulers, but they never saw the light of day.
“Because most of us in the House honestly believe that traditional institutions are the backbones of our society, we believe that the welfare of our people will be more enhanced with a legal role for the traditional institutions.
“We also believe the security of our country will be more enhanced if the traditional institutions are given better roles. That’s the reason from the onset, we decided to create two different committees. One of them is the Committee on Traditional Institutions to drive the process of giving legal recognition to the traditional institutions in this coming constitutional amendment. The second one is the Committee on States and Local Governments.”
Speaker Abbas noted that “If we must make headway with the ongoing constitution amendment, state governments, State Houses of Assembly, Local Government Councils and their councillors must be considered. That’s the reason we decided that another committee dealing with issues of states and local governments should come on board.
“These two committees, we believe, will drive the process of reaching out to critical stakeholders in the states to ensure that the goal of local government autonomy is realized.”
In his contribution as a panelist, the Etsu Nupe and Chairman, Niger State Council of Traditional Rulers, Yahaya Abubakar, noted that during the colonial era, the traditional institution was already established, which was why the colonialists went through the institution to administer the people.
“We are urging this Assembly to use the ongoing constitution review exercise to re-establish the roles of traditional institutions in the country so that we can assist governments at all levels to monitor and maintain security and peace in our various domains,” the Etsu Nupe said.
On his part, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Yakubu Maikyau (SAN), urged the leadership of the 10th National Assembly to revisit all legal and legislative encumbrances hindering the realization of the full potential of traditional institutions in the country.
He commended the speaker for championing the cause of returning traditional institutions to their glory days by carving roles for them in the Constitution, free from the overbearing influence of political actors.
The NBA boss argued that for such roles to be effective and sustainable, the constitution must also take care of the issue of job security for the traditional rulers, whom he said are currently at the mercy of politicians.