Dogara: Restructuring Not Achievable without Constitution Amendment

• Presidency confirms Buhari did not attack govs on unpaid workers’ salaries

Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, thursday said most of the issues being canvassed by advocates of restructuring could not be actualised except the constitution is amended.

Dogara stated this while speaking to State House correspondents in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, after briefing members of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) at its meeting on Wednesday night.

He said it was against this background that he agreed with President Muhammadu Buhari that all the clamour for restructuring should be channeled to the National Assembly, noting that the executive cannot make laws since lawmaking is the exclusive preserve of the legislature.

According to him, even though restructuring was part of the manifesto of the All Progressives Congress (APC), such issues would still have to be tabled before the National Assembly for effective debate and eventual incorporation into the constitution.

Dogara added that even though the party had set up a committee to collate opinions on restructuring, they would still have to end up in the National Assembly where the power to incorporate them into the constitution resides.
He said he personally lacked the power to give a clear-cut assurance to the governors on restructuring because every issue has to be subjected to debate in the National Assembly and decisions taken by the vote of a simple majority.

However, he promised that the National Assembly would look into the issues being canvassed holistically and amend the constitution with a view to ensuring that the interests of the people prevail in the end.
The NGF had earlier invited Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu to brief it on the constitution amendment process by the Senate.
“I was asked to see them (governors) so that we can talk about some of these constitutional alterations in the National Assembly. So I came to meet them so that we can talk on most of the bills we are considering.

“Even though I am the speaker, I can tell you that I can only speak where majority of our members have agreed upon. So it is a bit early for me to conclude. But this is a democracy and in a democracy, the majority matters.
“We are aware of the ongoing agitations in the country. Some are calling for restructuring. Some call it true federalism. This is an issue on the manifestos of the APC.

“It is our feeling as very responsive and responsible representatives of the people to ensure that this debate is done. And I agree like I said before, that the position of the president that most of these matters and issues should be canvassed at the levels of the National Assembly.

“This is because some of the structural imbalances that we are talking about that need what they call restructuring cannot be corrected just by a stroke of the pen.

“Some of them are actually embedded in the provisions of the constitution. Even by pedestrian description of the functions of government, the executive cannot make laws; they cannot amend the constitution.

“They can only initiate the process in an executive bill, but it ultimately revolves within the powers of the legislature. So even the committee that is set up by the APC leadership on true federalism, by the time they conclude their work, most of the issues they come out with will require some kind of tinkering of the constitution.

“So our feeling is that we should not just close the window to the yearnings of majority of our people. We should listen again to all the stakeholders, listen more to Nigerians and at the end of the day, we will come up with an exercise that meets the expectations and yearnings of our people.

“We will not just amend the constitution for the sake of amending it. We will want the exercise to be very impactful,” Dogara said.

In his briefing, the Chairman of NGF and Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, denied a statement credited to the president by his media aide that the president expressed displeasure over their failure to pay the salaries of workers in their states despite the bailout support given to them.

Whereas the president was quoted in a statement issued by his Media Adviser, Mr. Femi Adesina, Yari said the president never made such a remark but instead he agreed with the governors on the issues raised and asked them to wait until he returns from Turkey.

He also said the speaker briefed them on the issues left out of the ongoing constitution amendment exercise by the National Assembly such as restructuring and devolution of powers, pointing out that they will still be considered in the interest of the nation.

Yari said they were also briefed and educated by representatives of the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) on how they could raise bonds from the capital market to finance infrastructure.

“We briefed the members (of NGF) about our meeting with Mr. president Tuesday, which I’m surprised some of you turned upside down. You got the full briefing from me and then some of your people went and said they got another from inside.

“I don’t know which inside that the president is not happy with the governors. It is very unfortunate. We had a very fruitful meeting with the President and he accepted all our requests.

“The only thing Mr. President said is that he is not a technical person and that we should wait for the Minister of Finance to return, and the Chairman of the National Economic Council, so that they can give him an update and support on what he is going to say to us.

“So he said we should reschedule this meeting until he returns from Turkey. I think this is what I told the press yesterday (Tuesday) but I wonder how they turned it around.

But Adesina told THISDAY that Yari was correct that Buhari did not attack governors as implied by media reports, saying his statement was only twisted by some media platforms in their drive to sensationalise the story.

According to him, the comment of the president that he wondered how people could sleep when their staff were not paid was not directed to the governors but rather a general statement which he said the president often makes in expression of his concern about the plight of unpaid workers.