Politics
Bill On Transition Procedure Passes 2nd Reading
A Bill for an Act to provide for the procedure and ceremony for transition and assumption of office for the President and Vice President- elect passed second reading at the House of Representatives, yesterday.
Rep. Kpam Sokpo (PDP-Benue), who sponsored the bill, said it was aimed at ensuring smooth transition from one administration to another.
He added that the bill would help to facilitate smooth handover between outgoing President and Vice President to the incoming President and Vice President.
Rep. Tobi Okechwukwu, the Deputy Minority Leader, while contributing, said the bill would tackle lack of precision on transition programme.
He said that the transition period was a time when cabinet members that would form the new government must have been selected to keep the country on the move.
He said that the period of transition should have afforded the President-elect to do some research that would help in the smooth running of the new administration.
The deputy minority leader stressed that the transition period should not be a time for watching the body language of the President on the direction of his administration.
“This bill is important, because we lost about six months in 2015 because the cabinet of the President was not constituted and the same thing happened in 2019.
“This should be a country of rules and law and the law must be seen to have been obeyed,” he said.
He said that the situation was the same at the state level, where state governors after winning election for six months failed to constitute their cabinets.
The lawmakers, thereafter voted unanimously in favour of the bill scaling second reading.
Similarly, a bill for an Act to repeal the Fire Service Act 2004 and enact the Fire and Emergency Service Act 2021 has passed second reading in the House of Representatives.
This bill which sought to introduce stricter penalties for violation of building codes, fire regulations and other related matters was sponsored by Rep. Adejoro Adeogun (APC-Ondo) .
Leading the debate at plenary yesterday, Adeogun said the bill also seeks to provide the agency with additional powers for effective service delivery and for other related matters.
The lawmaker said that the bill also sought the expansion of responsibilities of the service to meet international best practices and the growing demands of citizens.
He recalled that the Fire Service Act (1963) saddled the service with the responsibility of mitigating fire disasters and combating fire emergencies.
According to him, this narrow scope of responsibility precludes non fire disasters such as flooding, building collapse, air and road accidents.
The lawmaker said that other natural disasters that might or might not be accompanied by fire but emergency rescue was required.
“This bill addresses this gap by expanding the scope of responsibilities of the fire service to include fire and non-fire related emergencies such as flooding, building collapse, construction site accidents, mining collapse and related land, sea and air accidents.
“This bill also seeks to introduce stricter penalties for violation of building codes, fire regulations, impersonation of fire service personnel and unlawful disclosure of privileged information obtained in the course of emergencies,’’ he said.
Adeogun who represents Akoko South East/South West Federal Constituency of Ondo State said the aim was to prevent and mitigate all fire disasters as well as other accidents.
He said the bill would encourage investment in fire and emergency equipment by states, local g areas and corporate organisations to improve response to emergencies.
The legislator said he bill would empower the fire and emergency service chief to mobilise resources for the training, equipping and deployment of fire and emergency personnel for prompt response to emergencies.
The rep said that the bill provided for the establishment of a Fire and Emergency Service Reward Fund to reward fire and emergency fire officers.
“The major achievements of this amendment bill if passed, will be to build the capacity of the fire and emergency service to respond to disasters with greater synergy and efficiency.
“It will also elevate the fire and emergency service from the back-end to the frontline of disaster management.
“The bill will also open new frontiers for the creation of jobs through engagement of able bodied youths into the fire and emergency service,’’ he said.
Adeogun said that Nigeria had in the past, lost lives and billion dollar assets to fire, flood and similar disasters.
He said the bill hoped to lay the foundation for mitigating of future disasters and saving the nation from avoidable loss of lives and resources.
The parliamentarian urged his colleagues to support the bill to go through second reading and its eventual passage into law.
In his ruling, the Deputy Speaker of the house, Rep. Ahmed Wase (APC-Plateau) referred the bill to relevant committees of the house for further legislative actions.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed, through a second reading, a bill seeking to retain immunity for the Office of the President and remove immunity from the Vice President, the Governors and the Deputy Governors.
The bill was one of the 42 considered and passed through the second reading stage during plenary presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Benjamin Kalu, in Abuja.
Sponsored by Hon. Solomon Bob (Rivers PDP), the bill is seeking the amendment of Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution to guard against abuse of office and to ensure transparency in governance.
The long title of the proposed legislation read: “A Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to qualify the immunity conferred on the President, remove the immunity conferred on the Vice President, the Governors and their deputies, in order to curb corruption, eradicate impunity and enhance accountability in public office and for related matters.”
Key amendments include changes to Section 308 of the Constitution, which currently grants immunity to the president, vice president, governors, and deputy governors while in office.
The proposed bill will amend subsection 3 to ensure that immunity only applies to the President and the vice president when acting as President under Section 145 of the Constitution.
Additionally, a new subsection 4 will be introduced to make the immunity clause inapplicable if the office holder is acting in an unofficial capacity, engaging in actions beyond the powers of the office, or involved in criminal conduct.
“The bill seeks to foster transparency and strengthen the fight against corruption by making public officials more accountable for their actions, both in and out of office.”
“Section 308 of the principal Act is amended by:(a) substituting a new subsection (3) as follows: “(3) This section applies to a person holding the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Vice President only when acting as President, in line with Section 145 of this Constitution.
Creating sub section (4) thereto as follows:”(4) The foregoing provisions of this section shall be inapplicable where the person to whom this section applies is acting in an unofficial capacity or where the conduct of the person is beyond the powers of his office or the conduct is criminal in nature.
“This Bill may be cited as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Alteration) Act 2024.
The bill is currently awaiting further debate and consideration by the National Assembly.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has written to notify Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the senator representing Kogi Central, about the petition by constituents seeking her recall from the national assembly.
INEC said it has also received the contact details of the petitioners.
“Pursuant to section 69 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, I write to notify you of the receipt of a petition from representatives of registered voters in your constituency seeking your recall from the senate.
“The notification is in line with the provisions of clause 2 (a) of the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024.
“This letter is also copied to the presiding officer of the senate and simultaneously published on the commission’s website. Thank you”, the letter read.
The letter was signed by Ruth Oriaran Anthony, secretary to the commission.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued on Wednesday, INEC said it has now received the updated contact details from representatives of petitioners seeking to recall the senator.
In the statement, Sam Olumekun, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education, said a letter notifying the senator of the petition has been delivered to her official address, copied to the senate presiding officer, and published on the commission’s website.
“The next step is to scrutinise the list of signatories submitted by the petitioners to ascertain that the petition is signed by more than one half (over 50%) of the registered voters in the constituency. This will be done in the coming days.
“The outcome, which will be made public, shall determine the next step to be taken by the Commission. We once again reassure Nigerians that the process will be open and transparent”, Mr Olumekun said.
Sen. Akpoti-Uduaghan had recently accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexually harassing her.
The allegation came in the wake of seating arrangement related altercation between Senator. Akpabio and the Kogi Central senator at the red chamber
She was subsequently suspended from the senate for six months for “gross misconduct” over the incident.
The constituents behind the recall move also accused her of “gross misconduct, abuse of office, and deceitful behaviour”.
The senator has denied wrongdoing and called the recall effort a “coordinated suppression” of her voice.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the second reading of a bill to upgrade the Lagos State 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to full-fledged Local Government Areas (LGAs ).
The bill, was sponsored by James Faleke, Babajimi Benson, Enitan Badru, and 19 other lawmakers.
The bill is titled “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) to Accommodate the Thirty-Seven (37) Development Area Councils of Lagos State as Full-Fledged Local Government Areas, Increasing the Total Number of Local Government Areas in the Federation to Eight Hundred and Eleven (811), and for Related Matters (HB. 1498),”
Once fully enacted, Nigeria’s total number of LGAs will rise from 774 to 811, with Lagos overtaking Kano and Katsina, which currently have 44 and 34 LGAs, respectively.
Proponents of the bill argue that granting full LGA status to the LCDAs would bring governance closer to the people. The 37 LCDAs were created by President Bola Tinubu in 2003 when he was governor of Lagos State.
However, it’s worth noting that the Lagos State House of Assembly has been working on a bill to replace the 37 LCDAs with newly designated administrative areas.