The ongoing effort at reforming the electoral process in the country will be completed by first quarter of 2010 to usher in new electoral laws, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu has said.

Ekweremadu, who is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Review of the 1999 Constitution (SCRC), said this in Abuja shortly after his arrival from Washington where he held dialogue with members of the Council on Foreign Relation.

Senator Ekweremadu said “By the first quarter of next year, we will come out with the electoral reform. We are almost there and we are optimistic that we are going to deliver. We will deliver on the reforms before 2011 so that the election will benefit from the process.”

A statement by the office of the Deputy Senate President said while in Washington, Senator Ekweremadu assured the Council headed by Amb. Princeton Lyman that the National Assembly is resolved that the Constitution must be reviewed to consolidate democracy.

Senator Ekweremadu told the council that though the exercise was trailed by initial scepticism from the people “But we have won the trust of Nigerians, who now see that we are determined to deliver constitutional reform and on time.”

On the possibility of the supremacy tussle between the Senate and House of Representatives scuttling the exercise, he said “We are in constant discussion with the House and I can assure you that we will have a harmonised position before presenting our report to the two plenary sessions.”

The dialogue was organised between members of the (SCRC) and the Washington based Council on Foreign Relation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of the engagement between both countries on mutual issues of interests.  

To hasten the process, Senate is set to conduct zonal hearings to receive input from the six geo-political zones in the country beginning from December 13