‘Nigeria needs futuristic constitution’

Damaturu – The Yobe Commissioner for Justice, Ahmed Goniri, has advocated for a review of Nigeria’s Constitution to address emerging challenges.

Ahmed in Damaturu on Thursday said that there was a need to have “a futuristic constitution that will address issues in the next 30 to 40 years’’.

He challenged the National Assembly to commence a holistic review of the constitution, and identified selfish interests as responsible for hitches encountered in previous attempts to review the constitution.

“We need a people-oriented and all inclusive review that will not be guided by personal interests.

“Once a law is tailored towards an interest or individual, it is bound to fail because the laws will outlive such interests,’’ he said.

Ahmed identified challenges such as the one recorded in the Kogi governorship election as new to the constitution.

He advised the National Assembly to undertake the review without political, ethnic and religious interests to come up with a document that would be fair to every Nigerian and stand the test of time.

The commissioner urged state assemblies to participate actively in the review to produce a document that would serve and protect the interests of their people.

Ahmed said the state assemblies were empowered by the constitution to pass the review before it becomes a working document.