Reps move to create new constituencies

The House of Representatives, yesterday, mandated its Committee on Electoral Matters to liaise with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the purpose of reviewing federal constituencies and senatorial districts in the country.

The House which was presided over by Speaker Aminu Tambuwal took the decision after a motion, presented by Mr Mohammed Ango-Abdullahi, was endorsed by a majority of members through a voice vote.
Abdullahi cited Section 73 (1) of the amended 1999 Constituttion which stipulates that: “INEC shall review the division of the states and that of the federation into senatorial districts and federal constituencies at intervals of not less than 10 years and may alter the districts or  constituencies in accordance with the provisions of this section to such extent as it may consider desirable in the light of review.”
To buttress his position, Abdullahi further said the population of the country had been growing at the rate of 3.18 per cent since 2006 when the nation’s population stood at 140,003,542.
He also cited the need to have more senatorial and federal constituencies to adequately safeguard the interest of the people socially, politically and economically, adding that this will also reduce the burden of National Assembly members who have two, three or four  local government areas as  federal constituencies or even 14 local government areas in a senatorial district without consideration to population density.
It would be recalled that INEC had attempted to embark on the exercise since the days of its former Chairman, Prof. Maurice Iwu.

VANGUARD