NIGER ASSEMBLY BEGINS HEARING ON CONSTITUTION AMENDMENT
Niger State House of Assembly has begun public hearing on the 15 amended provisions of the 1999 Constitution with the view to get public opinion on the amended sections.
Speaking while declaring the public hearing open, the Speaker of Niger State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Ahmed Marafa, explained that 15 proposed amendment bills were transmitted to the Assembly,.
He stated that the House of Assembly can only agree or disagree with the bills as provided for in a particular item each at this stage but cannot input any other thing.
He explained that the Assembly was the first in the country to subject the proposed amendment bills to public scrutiny and urged participants to give their candid opinion in order to guide the Assembly in the yes or no vote at plenary.
Also the amendment bill seeking to remove the word “force” from the Nigeria Police Force received heated debate after the O/C legal of the Niger Police Command, DSP Jude argued against its removal insisting that the police is a force and not civil when it comes to fighting sophisticated criminals.
DSP Jude, speaking on behalf of the Nigeria Police Force also opposed the constitutional provision recognising the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) on grounds that it is contrary to the constitutional provision that established the Nigeria Police Force.
This was however dismissed by the public relations officer of NSCDC in Niger State, Ibrahim Yahaya, who explained the differences in the duties of the police and Civil Defence, argued that the roles were never at conflict.
