Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, has affirmed that the parliament would amend the federal character provision in the Constitution to go beyond ethnicity and reflect gender considerations.
Control TV reports that Gbajabiamila spoke in Abuja when a delegation from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) paid him a courtesy visit at the National Assembly.
The Speaker also informed the delegation, led by the CPA’s Secretary-General, Mr Stephen Twigg, that care for Persons Living With Disabilities, PLWDs had received the attention of the Nigerian legislature.
He explained that a number of bills before the House was seeking an amendment to the constitution to provide gender balancing, federal character review and the answer to the disability questions.
READ ALSO: Senate Approves Buhari’s $16bn, €1bn Loan Requests
He said: What we are doing is that we are going through a constitutional amendment process. We are looking at gender issues in a way to address the two sides.
Even in the way we apply the federal character principle, we want to go beyond ethnicity to include gender and others as well.”
Gbajabiamila noted that the House and the CPA may be in tandem as the association too had promoted gender equality, drawing attention to the challenges faced by people living with disabilities, like exclusion from governance.
READ ALSO: BREAKING: Court Adjourns Nnamdi Kanu’s Trial To January 19
Speaking on the relevance of the CPA, Gbajabiamila told the delegation that it had fostered relationships among parliaments.
He briefed the delegation on how the 9th House under his leadership introduced Parliamentary Diplomacy as a tool to assist the Executive arm in resolving disputes that could negatively affect the relationship between Nigeria and other countries.
We have used it in Ghana, in South Africa and other areas where we needed to intervene to resolve some issues”, he added.
The speaker also stated that the delegation about the Conference of Speakers of African Parliaments (COSAP), which he initiated in 2020 to “help our various nations to address development challenges on the continent.”
He cited the plea to creditor nations to cancel the debts owed by African countries as one of the main agenda of the group, which would hold its first physical meeting in the first quarter of 2022.
READ ALSO: Alleged Drug Peddling: Australian Police Arrest Wanted Fugitive Mostafa Baluch
Speaking earlier, Twigg hailed Gbajabiamila and the House for the “brilliant initiatives” he had read in the Legislative Agenda of the 9th House.
He commended the initiative to expand the scope of participation in governance by women and the disabled.”
Twigg also said that seeking debt cancellation was a “bold” effort by the CoSAP and encouraged the group to continue to push for it, hoping it would pay off
© ControlTV 2021.
