Demands of fiscal federalism, resource control, devolution of powers to federating units, increased derivation formula, state police and creation of local government areas by States topped proposals at the public hearing for South-South, Centre A of the House of Representatives Committee on the Review of the Nineteen-Ninety-Nine Constitution as amended.
These were some of the issues canvassed at the hearing by government representatives from Bayelsa, Delta and Edo States, as well as ethnic nationalities, traditional rulers, pressure groups, women and youth groups held at the Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha Banquet Hall in Yenagoa.
Leader of the House of Representatives and Chairman of the House Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution as Amended, South-South Centre A, Professor Julius Ihonvbere, said the purpose of the public hearing was to aggregate the views of stakeholders in the region and document the presentations to the tenth Assembly of the Green Chamber for the constitutional review process.
Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State, in his remarks, advocated that the Constitutional review process should create opportunities to address the injustices suffered by the people of the Niger Delta, the inequitable distribution of resources, the need for fiscal federalism and for States to be saddled with the responsibilities of creating Local Government Areas they can cater for.
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Similarly, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State, represented by the Deputy Governor, Sir Monday Onyeme, made a case for Local Government Autonomy, upward review of the derivation principle and revenue allocation formula for States to control their resources.
For the Edo State position articulated by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Dr. Samson Osagie on behalf of Governor Monday Okpebholo, the State backed Legislative, Judicial and Electoral Reforms with electronic transmission of election results, the creation of State police but was against carving any part of the State for the formation of another State, a proposal which attracted protest from the Ijaw National Congress.
The Public Hearing, which featured other officials of the Government of the three States, Monarchs, Socio-political and ethnic groups, women and youth bodies and other interest groups presenting position papers for the proposed amendments of the Nineteen-Ninety-Nine Constitution, witnessed a mammoth crowd in attendance which sometimes gave challenges to security operatives to handle.
