Hon. Pally Iriase is Deputy Whip of the House of Representatives and a member of the newly inaugurated Ad-Hoc committee on the review of the 1999 constitution. Iriase, who is representing Owan East/West Federal Constituency of Edo State, tells ADAMU ABUH why the process is in the interest of Nigerians.

Why is the House of Representatives and Senate working on the constitutional amendment separately?
YOU see; Nigeria is a bi-cameral legislature. There is no time that the constitution would, abinitio, be amended in a conference committee. The two Houses would have to vote. If you go to the constitution, it is very clear on this: You are to obtain the requisite ratio from each of the chambers of the National Assembly (being a bicameral legislature). It is only on issues that there are disagreements that you now come to a conference committee in order to remove the areas of disagreement.

But before the 8th Assembly, both arms of the National Assembly did the amendment process harmoniously?
No. It was not possible. There was no way my name would have been read in the Senate. There would still be synergy between both of them. The House would constitute its own committee and the Senate too, but there would be cooperation.

What do you make of the recurring cost implications of this exercise?
You see; anything that would ensure good governance in the country should not be looked at from cost angle. As the saying goes, the costliest peace is less costly in a war situation, because you would have to run the cost of war before you now again run the cost of peace. So, if you can obtain peace without going to war, I think even if the cost looks big to you, you would just do that. That is the analogy I want to give you when talking about the making of a constitution. Now, what we are looking at is, what would make Nigeria more seamlessly governable? What would make Nigeria enjoy the dividends of democracy the more? It is no issue, when you now say oh, because cost would be involved, why should you do this? At the end of it all, if confusion, crises and conflict arise from the non-amendment of the constitution, because of the fear of cost, you will still come to that cost after you would have lost so much time and resources.

Don’t you think there are pecuniary interests in this whole idea of kick-starting the amendment of the constitution?
It is painful when people go rather mundane in the consideration of very serious matters. There is absolutely no pecuniary interest; it is the interest of this country that matters. If, like I told you, Nigerians out there are saying that things are not right, because of some aspects of the constitution, and you bury your head like the ostrich in the sand in order not to be accused of pecuniary interests, then you have done a lot of disservice to the nation and we don’t want to be so accused.

So, what happens to the last exercise of the amendment of the constitution that the presidency is yet to sign into law?
Didn’t the legislature complete its assignment? And that question must be answered in the affirmative that yes the legislature stood by the Nigerian people as 360 constituency had the opportunity, which is the first time in history, to contribute to the amendment of the constitution. But for very tiny personal interest, those amendments were not signed into law. If you go back in history, you will find out the things that did not allow the former president to sign it into law were mundane. That constitutional amendment, as it were, was pure gate keeping on the side of some members of the executive. And things are not done that way. That blame does not belong here in the legislature.
Would you still revisit some of the issues by the 7th Assembly in the last constitutional amendment process?

Well, maybe you got that slightly wrong, because to start issues already decided with the concurrence of the Nigerian people de novo is not the same thing as when you have issues. Constitutional development requires active participation of the populace. You cannot anticipate or second-guess what the populace would want in their constitution. So, you cannot restrict. I like that the word that should be quoted is that there are no-go areas except the fact that we remain an indivisible country.

But under that platform everything can be discussed. Don’t forget that when we finished the last action on the constitution that was never signed into law, the constitutional conference had not finished its work and there were a whole lot of Nigerians, who felt some issues dealt with must influence constitutional amendment. So, if you say your understanding is that we would not start anything new, it is not that we would not admit new ideas that would help the governance of this country. It is that those issues on which we have come to conclusions and arrived at decisions that were contained in the constitutional amendment Bill that was not signed into law would not be commenced de novo. That is the idea.

Are we expecting a new constitution before the lifespan of this assembly expires in 2019?
I think that the Speaker made us to know that he had to ensure that this committee is inaugurated, as early as this, in order that we can commence work. We would not want to hamstring the populace in contributing to their own constitution. The only thing that can affect the speed at which will bring up an amended constitution would be the feedback that we receive from the Nigerian population. We are here on behalf of the people, and whatever we do must be for them.