President of the Senate, Senator Ahmed Lawan.
By Marie-Therese Nanlong
Jos – The Plateau Initiative for the Development and Advancement of the Natives (PIDAN) has advocated for gender equity, creation of a national court for electoral matters and inclusion of minorities.
PIDAN in a 17-point memo submitted at the senate public hearing on the review of the 1999 Constitution held in Jos, said inclusion of women and minorities in government will ensure peace and even development of the country.
“The Plateau Initiative for Development for Advancement of the Natives (PIDAN), a body committed to the defence, protection and projection of the interests of the indigenous people of Plateau State, considers it imperative to make this submission to your Committee.
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“As active participants in all manner of efforts with potentials to facilitate the realisation of the Nigerian project, PIDAN wishes to humbly make the following submission: Gender equity, increased participation of women in governance. Globally, women have demonstrated sound ability to provide effective leadership in all spheres of human endeavour and their performance in leadership positions have surpassed that of men in numerous instances even in our Country.
“We strongly recommend that Nigeria should strictly adhere to the provisions of international conventions on women participation in politics, governance, security and family life. The protection of women rights should also be enforced”, the group submitted.
On federal structure in governance and power devolution, it stated, “the federating units should be states with three additional states created in each geopolitical zone to cater for the ethnic minorities… Also, equitable criteria for the delineation of Federal constituencies within the regions, states and LGAs be provided.
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“We welcome the proposed autonomy for the Local Government Areas. However, LGAs should be listed in the Constitution in manner that allow State creates viable LGAs based on popular demand and compliance with prescribed criteria including demography, peace, security, economic indices and predictable sustainability.”
It also advocated among other things that “a national court should be created to adjudicate on election matters to free the regular courts of such cases and to enhance dispensation of justice.”
