House of Reps speak on bill to rename Nigeria
The House of Representatives has denied reports that a bill seeking to rename Nigeria as the “United States of Nigeria” is before the National Assembly.
The denial came after social media posts alleged that President Bola Tinubu forwarded a proposal to lawmakers to change the country’s name and end Shariah criminal law in the North.
The House made it clear that no such document exists in its records.
During the presentation of prioritised constitutional amendment bills on Thursday, House spokesperson and member of the Constitutional Review Committee, Akin Rotimi, told journalists that the reports online are false.
He stated that the House has not received any executive bill requesting a name change for the country.
Rotimi explained that what lawmakers are currently working on is a set of 44 harmonised constitutional amendment proposals.
These were jointly developed with the Senate under the leadership of Senator Jibrin Barau as part of the ongoing constitutional review.
He also addressed rumours surrounding a recent meeting between First Lady Oluremi Tinubu and lawmakers at the Presidential Villa.
According to him, the meeting focused only on the Reserved Seats for Women Bill, which the First Lady has shown strong support for.
He said that the topic of renaming the country was never raised during that engagement.
The lawmaker added that the Constitutional Review Committee earlier received more than 350 amendment requests from the public and institutions.
These were later trimmed to a little over 40 bills to make the process more organised and effective.
