Senate President Seeks NBA’s Inputs In Constitution Amendment, Electoral Reforms

President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio has sought the inputs of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in the ongoing process of amending the 1999 Constitution and Electoral Reforms by the National Assembly.

Senator Akpabio made the call when he received the leadership of the NBA led by the President, Mazi Afam Osigwe in his office in Abuja on Monday.

According to Senator Akpabio, the National Assembly would need the support of the NBA in the processes of enacting enduring legislation for the country. “We intend to involve the Nigerian Bar Association. When we knock on your door, please answer us. We can’t do it alone.

“What we are doing here requires your input. We want to make sure we enact legislations that outlive us, that benefit Nigerians and take care of the vulnerable in the society whilst upholding the dignity of Nigerians.

“In terms of electoral reforms which can come by way of electoral act amendment, we are already at an advanced stage in that respect. So any input you may wish to make, to make our electoral process more transparent and for every vote to count, this is the right time to do so,” he told the NBA leadership.

The President of the Senate also urged the association to rid the profession of quackery. “This is one profession that quackery must be eliminated. We have a lot of quacks in the legal profession. One of the things you may have to do as a major agenda is to cleanse the book and ensure that those who call themselves lawyers are indeed those who have had the requisite training to practice as lawyers and were called to the Bar,” he said.

The NBA President said the visit to the President of the Senate was imperative owing to ongoing efforts to amend the constitution and the need to draw the attention of the National Assembly to some Bills that require the attention of the lawmakers.

“There are a number of justice sector reform Bills pending before the National Assembly and the NBA working with the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and other stakeholders in the legal profession articulated a position which has been presented to the National Assembly about possible areas that may need to be amended in the Constitution.

“We are worried about the slow pace of justice delivery in Nigeria and a number of these recommendations and suggestions have been made to speed up justice delivery in our system.

“We are also very much interested in the ongoing efforts to reform the Electoral Act. We are of the view that the Electoral Act 2022 is one of the most progressive Act to emanate from the National Assembly.

And even though some of the judicial interpretations of some of the sections have given room to some ambiguity and uncertainties on what the position of the law is, we feel that this further attempt to amend the act will provide the avenue to right some of these misconceptions which have created some difficulties in implementation,” he said.

Mazi Osigwe thanked Senator Akpabio for his physical attendance at the NBA 2024 conference and solicited his support for this year’s conference scheduled to hold in Port Harcourt, Rivers State later in the year.