Senate to Commence Constitutional Amendment after Sallah Break

Senate to Commence Constitutional Amendment after Sallah Break

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, has revealed that the Senate will commence the amendment of the 1999 Constitution as soon as the Sallah break is over.

This is just as he explained that the sexual harassment bill recently passed by the upper legislative chamber is not targetted at university lecturers.

Omo-Agege, who spoke yesterday while playing host to two groups – Women Education Advocacy and Development Initiative (WEADI) and League of Women Voters of Nigeria (NILOWV) – in his office.

He stressed that the constitution review committee of the Senate headed by him would swing into action immediately after the Sallah break.

“Immediately after the Sallah, we are going to hit the ground running with constitution review exercise. And there are a lot of bills dealing with women rights advancement”.

The Senator pointed out that the rights of women and the girl-child would be protected during the constitution amendment exercise, adding that the panel would take into account experiences from other African countries.

“We will take the Ugandan and Rwandan experiences into account to see how we can meet up with the agitation of our women in the constitution review exercise,” he stated.

The Deputy Senate President also used the opportunity to explain that the Sexual Harassment Bill recently passed by the Senate is not targeted at lecturers in higher institutions of learning but meant to flush out the few bad eggs tarnishing the image of their

colleagues.

The Delta Central Senator regretted that few educators are soiling the image of their colleagues, majority of whom he described as “decent’’.

He said: “This bill is not targeted at our lecturers in tertiary institutions. To the extent that it is targeted at anybody, it is targeted at the errant few, the few predators in their midst. And we have them everywhere. It is not only in the tertiary institutions. Majority of the lecturers, professors are good people. We know them, we went through the institutions. So we speak from experience. The majority of lecturers, professors in higher institutions are good and decent teachers whose sole objective is to impact knowledge so that we can have the enabling environment to prepare our leaders of tomorrow.

“So, this bill is targeted at the very insignificant few who cause most of these atrocities. And we have decided that we should put a stop to it. I am sure that even most of these lecturers know that they are not the target”.

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