The House of Representatives will on Wednesday open debate on a wide-ranging set of constitution amendment bills as part of the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution.

Deputy Speaker Benjamin Okezie Kalu, who chairs the House Committee on Constitution Review, announced at Tuesday’s plenary that lawmakers will devote Wednesday and Thursday to deliberations on the proposals, ahead of voting slated for December 10 and 11.

According to him, the debate marks a critical phase in the legislature’s efforts to update key aspects of the nation’s governance framework.

A total of 87 bills are currently before the House, covering far-reaching reforms across the electoral system, the judiciary, fiscal federalism and security architecture.

Some of the prominent proposals include the creation of additional seats for women in parliament, establishment of state police, creation of new states and local government areas, and granting full financial and administrative autonomy to local government councils.

In other news, in a bid to ensure the well-being of the citizenry, the House of Representatives has moved to uncover the whereabouts of more than ₦30 billion recovered during the Federal Government’s 2024–2025 investigation into alleged financial infractions at the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA).

The lawmakers during plenary session presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Dr. Benjamin Kalu, on Tuesday, warned that the continued withholding of the funds is crippling several poverty-alleviation initiatives across the country.

This followed the adoption of a motion, sponsored by Rt. Hon. Saidu Musa Abdullahi (Bida/Gbako/Katcha Federal Constituency, Niger State), who raised serious concerns over the fate of funds recovered from Deposit Money Banks and Payment Service Providers, including allocations for TraderMoni, MarketMoni, FarmerMoni, and Grants for Vulnerable Groups.

Abdullahi reminded lawmakers that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had suspended NSIPA operations on January 8, 2024, to allow for a sweeping investigation into alleged financial misconduct.

The investigation reportedly uncovered and froze billions of naira belonging to the agency. However, despite the President lifting the suspension on 21 January 2025, NSIPA has been unable to resume full operation because the recovered funds have allegedly not been remitted to its Treasury Single Account (TSA).

The lawmaker warned that the delay in releasing the funds threatens the core pillars of the Renewed Hope Agenda, slowing down poverty-reduction programmes, crippling small-scale enterprises, worsening hardship in rural and urban areas, and eroding public confidence in government-led social protection efforts.

“Millions of vulnerable Nigerians who depend on these interventions are being exposed to prolonged socioeconomic distress,” he said, stressing that uncertainty over the custodial status of the funds poses “serious fiscal and institutional risks.” (THE GUARDIAN)

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