Speaker of the House of Assembly, Femi Gbajabiamila , has shared his view on what should be added to the federal character.
NAIJA NEWS NG gathered that the Speaker also revealed his plans to make laws that favour the Nigerian youth. Femi Gbajabiamila said this while delivering a speech at the Young Parliamentarians Forum (YPF) strategy meeting held in the capital city of Abuja on Saturday 31.
Femi Gbajabiamila said;
“I think we should consider an amendment in the constitution to the definition of federal character, because when we talk about federal character within the context of appointments, infrastructure and the rest of it in the constitution, federal character, as it is, is limited to where you are from, like your ethnicity.
“In other words, the constitution says that appointments and all those other things shall be based on federal character, and federal character as we know it now, we have the Igbo, we have the Hausa, the Yoruba. There should be a geographical spread.
“I think it’s time that we expand the definition of federal character because the character of a nation is not just based on your tribe. It’s based on religion; it’s based on where you are from; it’s based on your sex; it’s based on your age.
“So, when you are talking about federal character, you look at all those things and they are what make up the federal character. You talk about so so percentage of women, so so percentage of youth; that is the true meaning of federal and I think that is what should be reflected in the constitution.”’
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Femi Gbajabiamila also said the education of the Nigerian youth should be paramount . He said they are concerned about the challenges of the youth with focus on unemployment and getting them into politics.
“I do intend to reconvene the house to consider a couple of very important things that will affect Nigerians, like the electoral law, the PIB and more importantly, the bills that are already in the system concerning the development of the youth.
“I will speak with the clerk of the national assembly to quickly figure out how we can get a secretariat for young parliamentarians where they can sit and put heads together beyond the chambers of the house of representatives.”
