Chukwu Obinna 
House of Representative
ABUJA, Nigeria – Nigeria’s House of Representatives will vote on one of the most sweeping constitutional amendment packages in decades on 10 December, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu announced on Thursday.
Kalu, who chairs the House Committee on Constitution Review, told lawmakers during plenary that the chamber will dedicate Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week to debating the committee’s final proposals ahead of the decisive ballot.
“We are going to continue another set of debates next week, but this time it will be on the Constitution review,” he said. “Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be for the debates because we are looking at the upper week to be when we will vote on the Constitution, which is about 10 December, before we wind down this session.”
He said harmonised documents and technical drafts were ready for presentation, signalling the end of the committee’s internal work.
“Prepare yourself for debate next week… We have finished our work at the committee level and it is just to present it to the House and debate on it,” he noted.
The review process, led by the 10th National Assembly, includes proposals on governance reforms, women’s representation, judicial strengthening, power devolution, local government autonomy, security adjustments, and relations between the federal and state governments.
If lawmakers meet the 10 December deadline, the vote will occur before the year-end recess. The Senate must separately endorse the amendments before the final harmonised versions are transmitted to state assemblies, where at least 24 of 36 states must approve them.
The amendments would then return to the National Assembly for certification before being sent for presidential assent.
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