The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Bill

  • A bill of controversy

    A bill of controversy

    What form should the National Transportation Commission (NTC) take? This was the issue discussed by stakeholders at a public hearing on the NTC Bill in Abuja. ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE reports

    hen the Bill for the establishment of the National Transportation Commission (NTC) was sent to the National Assembly last month, it was assumed it would  fly without a fuss.

    That was why at a public hearing last Tuesday, the Minister for Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, said the question was not whether the commission is desirable, but why it hasn’t been established.

    It wasn’t only Fashola that felt the nation is being  short-changed as  the  sector has become an all-comers’ affair. Such development, the minister reasoned, is responsible for the sector’s poor contribution  to the  Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    Overtime, the Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, said the sector contributed about 1.4  per cent, adding that this  must be corrected, because it must be  a major  driver of the government’s economic diversification agenda.

    The public hearing was regarded as a right step by the Senate to tap from the body of knowledge available to transportation and logistics experts, stakeholders and other operators on  matters concerning the commission.

    The Senate Committee Chairman on Land Transport, Gbenga Ashafa, who chaired the event,  said: “In order to enrich the quality and content of this bill, there is a need to organise a Public Hearing to borrow from the body of knowledge of sector professionals like you all.”

    Ashafa spoke the same way when the Bill was  presented to the Senate last month. Then, he told The Nation the Senate would consult widely with experts and stakeholders and come out with a commission that would  aid the sector.

    He agreed that a regulator is necessary to sanitise the sector and make it more profitable.

    But that is if all stakeholders are on the same page. Right now, there are discordant voices.

    Government’s position that the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) be upgraded to the status of National Transportation Commission (NTC) and an industry regulator at the public hearing unsettled many.

    Amaechi said the Ministry resolved that the NSC, which has been performing regulatory responsibilities in the maritime industry, be upgraded to regulate the entire transportation sector.

    This will address the issue of duplicating responsibilities through the creation of another agency, but it threw up other issues, such as the proprietary or otherwise of such drastic move in the sector.

    Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA),  Managing Director Ms. Hadiza Bala Usman fired the first salvo when she demanded the creation of an independent regulator, while NSC remains.

    Buttressing her point, Ms. Usman said: “In designing a regulator, it is absolutely necessary to separate technical/operational responsibilities (which in the case of NPA and NIWA, as vested by their enabling laws), from matters of competition, the subject of the new regulatory regime.

    “Failure to make a distinction between these forms of regulation has the inherent risk of “Agency-capture” and the potential of conflict of interest between the two forms of regulation,” she said.

    Though Usman’s position was counter to the mainstream as expressed by the Minister, her view to have both agencies separated however resonated with several other experts.

     

    NSC’s function

     

    Besides being established to promote the interest of shippers, and the establishment of shippers associations across the country, the Shippers Council law authorises in Section 3, that it should advise the government of the federation, through the Minister, on matters relating to the structure of freight rate, availability and adequacy of shipping space, frequency of sailings, terms of shipment, class and quality of vessels, port charges and facilities and other related matters;  negotiate and enter into agreements with Conference Lines and non-Conference Lines, ship-owners, the Nigerian Ports Authority and any other bodies on matters affecting the interests of shippers;  consider the problems faced by shippers with regards to coastal transport, inland waterways transport and matters relating generally to the transportation of goods by water and advise government on possible solutions and to provide a forum for the protection of the interest of shippers on matters affecting the shipment of imports and exports to and from Nigeria among others.

    Shedding more light, Executive Secretary/CEO of Safety Without Borders (SWB) Patrick Adenusi said being a body set up to protect the interest of Nigeria,  especially at a time when the nation has no national carrier, the NSC is not in the best position to advance the cause of the sector and become a regulator.

    “I don’t think merging NSC or adapting it to the status of the NTC is best for the industry.” Questioning the rationale for the establishment of any other agency, Adenusi said in an era of recession when the expenses of government is increasing, establishing another agency would only serve to bloat government’s expenditure.

    “What we would end up having is to have some Nigerians that would not be productive but collect salaries and increasing government’s burden.”

    Rather than setting up another agency, Adenusi canvassed that the Ministry should play its role as the policy formulator and implementer.

    There’s nothing the NTC wanted to do that the Ministry couldn’t achieve. “Supposing that the federal got away with the NTC, what that means is that similar agency must be created by the states. In a situation where many states are owing upwards of a year salary, how many can sustain another agency?”

     

    Beautiful dream

     

    Adenusi wasn’t the only dissenting voice against the creation of a Transportation Commission. Another Transportation expert, Dr Tajudeen Bawa’ Allah, said government must be careful and “not allow bureaucracy to kill its good intention for the industry.

    Bawa’Allah who was the first dean School of Transportation Studies of the Lagos State University, said, while the dichotomy being sought by the government, which seeks to separate the executing body, which is the policy formulating body is welcome, efforts must be made to ensure that bureaucracy does not kill the dream.

    The don who faults the merging or upgrading of the NSC to NTC said the mandate or functions of the former, is at variance with the proposed duties and functions of a regulator which is the latter.

    He said though the Ministry of Sports have a beautiful dream establishing the National Sports Commission, the latter had been moribund since its establishment.

    Rather than “engaging in a cut and paste that adapting the NSC would amount to, one would advise that the government revisit the report of the National Transportation Coordinating Committee (NTCC), headed by Prof Adeniyi, and draw from it,” Bawa’Allah said, adding, “We are not short of ideas, we are just short of putting all these ideas to productive use. If we don’t, the same bureaucracy that killed the National Sports Commission would kill the National Transportation Commission”.

    Bawa’Allah who served in the NTCC, said rather than rushing into creating the Commission, the government need to first come up with a policy framework to guide the agency in its operation. “There is nothing on ground for the NTC to work on. Let’s start by drawing up a national policy on transportation. The transportation industry has no policy and that is the foundation. I would urge the government to revisit the NTCC report and several of such reports since 1960.”

    Another expert who preferred not to be mentioned said transportation policy is the foundation upon which any implementation on the sector would rest.

    “It is the policy that would draw up the functions of the Federal Ministry of Transportation and those of the 36 states and Abuja, as well as that of other ministries or agencies such as Aviation, Works, among others.”

    Another logistics expert Edeme Kelikume, however, urged that the NTC should be allowed to live. He said the NTC would pave way for the deregulation of the transportation sector. “The bill when passed would be a plus to the government,” he said.

    Contrary to scepticism that NTC could just be a drain pipe, Kelikume said the commission would emerge as, “a value-adding agency. “If the NCC could become a major net contributor to the nation’s GDP, one could see the NTC achieving same for the transportation sector,” he added.

    Kelikume said the NTC would unlock the sector, deregulate its operations and draw fresh funds into government’s coffers.

  • Special Status bill for Lagos, other states pass second reading

    Special Status bill for Lagos, other states pass second reading

    A Bill seeking to provide a constitutional framework for Special Economic Consideration for any state within Nigeria with a population of Ten Million and above, Wednesday passed second reading.

    The bill with the title: “A bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria cap. C 23 laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 to grant Special Economic Consideration to certain states in Nigeria and other matters related thereto,” was sponsored by a member, Hon.  Babajimi Adegoke Benson and three other lawmakers.

    Benson whole arguing the bill said: “This Bill is a very special Bill. I call it unity Bill because the Bill is about Nigeria and Nigerians. I call it unity bill because it is one bill that if passed, will foster and promote the true meaning and intendment of section 41 sub section 1 of the Constitution which provides that “every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof and no citizen shall be expelled from Nigeria or refuse entry thereto or exit therefrom”.

    He further states: “This consideration, it is believed will contribute to the fulfillment of the cardinal objective of this 8th Assembly Legislative Agenda of enhancing National Economy and Development through legislative initiatives to support infrastructure development and establishing regional hubs of development in each of the six geo-political zones in the country and put this Honourable  House at the forefront of achieving over 8 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as agreed by nations of the world.”

    According to him, these are: “Good Health and Well-being (Goal 1), Quality Education (Goal 2), Clean Water and Sanitation (Goal 4), Affordable and Clean Energy (Goal 5), Decent Work and Economic Growth (Goal 6), Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (Goal 7) , Sustainable Cities and Communities (Goal 9) and, Climate Action (Goal 11).

    He said the Bill seeks to give deserving States in Nigeria the needed support to develop their critical infrastructures and cater for their rising population as occasioned by daily influx of Nigerians either for business or permanent residency.

    “Any State with Special Economic Consideration by this Bill shall be granted 20% of all proceeds accruing to the Federal Government from the state to mitigate the pressures of urbanization, overcrowding and decaying infrastructure thus reviving the economic potentials of such states to contribute significantly to economic prosperity of Nigeria.”

    He further states that “The premise of this Bill is the designation of any state within the threshold of Ten Million inhabitants as a megacity by the United Nations.

    “This Bill aside being in conformity with global demands, will position Nigeria as a proactive country ready to address the urban challenges of overpopulation, poverty, infrastructure decay and environmental degradation, also cater for the teeming youths who represent 70% of our demography.

    When the Speaker called for a voice vote, the bill scaled through second reading and was rendered to the ad hoc committee on the review of the constitution.

  • Before the President assents to the CCB/CCT Bill

    According to media reports, the National Assembly, on Thursday, October 27, arrogated to itself the powers to control the Code of Conduct Bureau and the Code of Conduct Tribunal via a Bill which purportedly amended sections 12 (1) (2), 21 (1) and 22 (1) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, 2004. Section 12 (1) of the Act provides that “The President may by order exempt any cadre of public officers from the provisions of this Act if it appears to him that their position in the public service is below the rank which it considers appropriate for the application of those provisions.” Subsection (2) thereof empowers the President to confer “on the Bureau such additional powers as may appear to it to be necessary to enable it to discharge more effectively the functions conferred upon it under this Act.”

    Section 21 of the said Act provides, “21 (1) The tenure of office of the staff of the Tribunal shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be the same as that provided for in respect of officers in the civil service of the Federation.” Section 22 (1) then unambiguously states that “…a person holding the office of chairman or member of the Tribunal shall vacate his office when he attains the age of seventy years.”

    It would be clear presently that the above provisions were lifted almost ipsissima verbis from the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), which, in its section 157 (1) states that the chairman and members of the Code of Conduct Bureau may only be removed from office by the President acting on an address supported by two-thirds majority of the Senate. In paragraph 1 of Part 1 of the Third Schedule thereof the Constitution expressly provides that “The Code of Conduct Bureau shall comprise the following members (a) a Chairman; and (b) nine members, each of whom…shall vacate his office on attaining the age of seventy years.” But the new Bill reduces the tenure of the chairman and of all members of the Code of Conduct Bureau to a term of five years subject to the confirmation of the Senate! In the language of the new Bill, “The Chairman and members shall serve for a term of five years, subject to renewal for one further term.” Yet, sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 16 of Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution unequivocally provides that “The tenure of office of the staff of the Code of Conduct Tribunal shall, subject to the provisions of this Code, be the same as that provided for in respect of officers in the civil service of the Federation”, whilst sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 17 thereof categorically states that “a person holding the office of Chairman or member of the Code of Conduct Tribunal shall vacate his office when he attains the age of seventy years.” A civil servant retires after thirty-five years in office or attains the age of sixty years, whichever is earlier.

    Sub-paragraph (4) of paragraph 17 emphasizes that “A person holding the office of Chairman or member of the Code of Conduct Tribunal shall not be removed from office before (the) retiring age (i.e. age 70)  save in accordance with the provisions of this Code.”

    Sections 4, 5 and 6 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) enshrines the doctrine of separation of powers by delimiting the powers of the three arms of government, the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. The assigned powers in the said sections cannot, and should not, be transcended, mistaken or forgotten by any of the arms of the government because they are defined and limited by a written constitution. Any attempt by any arm of government to intrude into the province of the other arm and/or to intermeddle with the prerogatives of the other(s) would be unconstitutional, null and void.

    In the classic case of William Madbury vs. James Madison (1803), a cause célèbre, Honourable Chief Justice John Marshall had cause to ask, “To what purpose are powers limited, and to what purpose is that limitation committed to writing, if these limits may, at any time, be passed by those intended to be restrained?” He added, with approval, “Certainly, all those who have framed the written constitutions contemplate them as forming the fundamental and paramount law of the nation, and, consequently, the theory of every such government must be, that an act of the legislature, repugnant to the constitution, is void.”

    As if to dramatize the self-serving nature of the Bill, a portion of it makes it compulsory for a breach of, or non-compliance with the Code of Conduct Act to be brought to the notice of the alleged offender to enable him to make a written admission of such a breach or non-compliance, and where such is done, there should be no reference to the Tribunal! This strange provision forecloses the need for a Code of Conduct Tribunal. Or can there be a good law without sanctions?

    The National Assembly knows, or should know, that without amending the 1999 Constitution with regard to those provisions of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, 2004, which it purportedly amended, its amendment thereof would be unconstitutional and of no effect. The questions the National Assembly should ask itself should include the following: did it comply with the provisions of section 9 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) regarding the mode of altering the provisions of the Constitution before amending the provisions of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, which is rooted in the constitution? If the country is governed by the rule of law and by the due process of the law, how can the National Assembly amend the constitution or any law derived therefrom and appropriate the powers conferred on the executive by the constitution in utter disregard of due process? Or is there any zone of twilight in which the National Assembly and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) possess concurrent authority? The President would be right to return this Bill – the CCB/CCT Bill – to the National Assembly for reconsideration.

     

    • Akiri is a legal practitioner in Lagos.
  • Ambode urges Senate to revisit special status for Lagos bill

    Ambode urges Senate to revisit special status for Lagos bill

    ….Senate’ll take a second look at bill, Yerima assures

    Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Tuesday appealed to the Senate to revisit the bill seeking one percent allocation to Lagos from the revenue accruable to the Federal Government, saying a passage of the bill would translate to economic prosperity and well-being of Nigeria.

    Ambode, who spoke at the Lagos House, Ikeja when he received on courtesy visit members of the Senate Committee on Marine Transport who were in Lagos to perform oversight function on federal institutions, said Lagos being a cosmopolitan city and the economic capital of Nigeria must be assisted by the Federal Government to address infrastructure challenges confronting it.

    The Governor said considering the fact that Lagos used to be the capital of Nigeria and is home to every tribe in the country, the passage of the bill by Senators should be viewed from the point of its importance to the country, and not just to Lagos.

    He said: “Come December 12, 2016, it will be 25 years that the capital of Nigeria was moved from Lagos to Abuja. So, 25 years after, this is where we are. I welcome wholeheartedly when Senator Sani Yerima said that anything that Lagos needs, the Senate will support us. So, I like to use this platform firstly to say a big thank you to the Senate President and the Deputy Senate President for allowing us to table our one percent special status because we have been struggling to put that up in the seventh Assembly, it was not done but it was through this eight Assembly that it was actually tabled and so we thank them for that.

    “If we have about twelve Senators here and we are looking for two-third, we are saying here that it would not be out of place to revisit our appeal and our bill. Lagos is thoroughly cosmopolitan; it is a mini-Nigeria and then the wellbeing of Lagos is the total well-being of Nigeria and everybody has a stake here in Lagos and as a government, we have continually addressed the cosmopolitan nature of Lagos in a way that is suitable and comfortable for all Nigerians irrespective of tribe, creed or religion,” he said.

    While clarifying the essence of the bill, the Governor said it only seeks one percent special allocation from the revenue accruable to the Federal Government, adding: “If we are able to do that, you can imagine what we would have done 25 years ago based on the understanding of gentlemen that Lagos would not be left behind or forgotten.

    “So, that is the platform we want you to try and help us to have a re-look, a re-think and then think more of Nigeria in the bill rather than of Lagos because that is what that one percent assistance will address and then tends to create the image of the kind of commercial capital we want Lagos to be.”

    The Governor, who described the visit by the members of the Senate Committee as apt and timely, said it came just after he had fruitful discussion in Denmark on the development of $2.6billion Badagry Deep Sea Port, aside the ongoing Lekki Port, adding that it was a pointer to the fact that there is convergence of vision and mission to grow Nigeria’s economy.

    Besides, the Governor justified the development of additional ports in Lagos, saying it was now obvious that only Apapa Port cannot meet the demand of commerce and expansion required by the State, and therefore solicited the support of the Senate in that regard.

    He said: “Another very important point is that the infrastructure around Apapa Port is not really befitting of what it should be. The real estate around Apapa Port has actually overtaken the activities of marine business there and that is why we are forward looking thinking there must be a different way to do business or commerce and we like to use this opportunity also to appeal to the Federal Ministry of Works to assist the haulage business in the Apapa area so that we can get federal roads well prepared for the kind of commerce we have there.

    “We also believe that the only major means of transportation in Lagos is road and that is why we are doing a lot on rail and water transportation to ensure that we are able to disperse our people from one point to the other with ease and comfort and allow the marine business to thrive in Lagos,” he said.

    Earlier, Chairman of the Senate Committee, Alhaji Sani Yerima, said members of the Committee were in Lagos to perform oversight function on federal institutions in the State to ensure that they are up and doing in their functions.

    He commended Governor Ambode for the massive development going on in Lekki especially the Lekki Deep Sea Port situated at the Lekki Free Trade Zone, among other massive projects across the State, adding that the Senate would support anything that has to do with Lagos being a small Nigeria.

    He specifically assured that the Senate would revisit the issue of the special status for Lagos, noting that as former capital of the country, everything must be done to support the State.

    “Lagos is not only for Lagosians. If you look at Lagos, it has been the national capital and up till this moment, you find people from all states of the federation earning living here and so anything we do for Lagos, we are not doing it for Lagos alone and I will call Lagos a mini Nigeria. So, by the grace of God, we are going to look at the bill again,” Yerima said.

  • Senate moves to scrap consumer protection agency

    Senate moves to scrap consumer protection agency

    A bill which sought to repeal the Consumer Protection Act and establish the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission scaled seconding reading Wednesday in the Senate.

    Sponsored by Senator Andy Uba, (Anambra South) the bill essentially encourages competition and discourages monopoly in business transactions in the country.

    It provides that it is unlawful for any two or more enterprises that are suppliers of products, to enter into or carry out any agreement where they undertake to  withhold supplies of products from dealers who resell or have resold products in breach of any condition as to the price at which those goods may be resold

    It would also make it unlawful  to supply products to such dealers except on terms and conditions, which are less favorable than those applicable to other dealers carrying on business is similar circumstances

    In his lead debate  Senator Uba explained that the bill seeks among other things to provide for the establishment of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission as well as to promote competition in trade and commerce among the states of the federation and  foreign countries.

    He noted that if passed, the Act would equally controls existing monopolies, discourage the abuse of dominant market position and other restrictive trade and business practices.

    The lawmaker reminded the Senate that the bills formed part of the reform bills, highlighted by the 8th Senate at inception to improve the ease of doing business in country as well as have a direct impact, on the prospects of the Nigerian economy.

    Uba said, “The essence of this important Bill, which extends the present reform culture of government into the areas of business and commercial practice is to promote among others a balanced development of the Nigerian economy, the welfare and interests of consumers, and provide them with competitive price and product choices competition ”

    “Enhance economic efficiency in production, trade and commerce, expansion  of opportunities for domestic enterprises to participate in world markets, the ability of small and medium enterprises to compete effectively; and restriction of business practices which prevents, or distorts competition or constitute the abuse of a dominant position of market power in Nigeria.”

    The Federal Competition Commission according to him shall have powers to give clearances for mergers, takeovers and acquisitions and give authorization for them.

     

  • Ajimobi signs LCDA bill into law

    Ajimobi signs LCDA bill into law

    Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has assented to the bill creating 35 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state.

    Mr. Toye Arulogun, the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, said this while briefing newsmen in Ibadan.

    He said that the bill, which was enacted by the state House of Assembly, gave legal backing to the creation of LCDAs in the state.

    Ajimobi, he said, assented to the bill on Oct. 6 after extensive deliberations on the legislation by the state house of assembly.

    He said that a committee would be set up to formulate the modalities for the smooth take off of the LCDAs.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the State Assembly at its sitting on June 16 discussed the creation of LCDAs and subsequently sent correspondence on it to the executive for consideration.

    The assembly in its correspondence requested the executive arm to create LCDAs in order to facilitate development at the grassroots.

    NAN reports that the state government had on Aug. 23 announced the creation of LCDAs in response to the correspondence from the Assembly.

    Arulogun said that there would be 14 LCDAs in Ibadan zone, two in Ibarapa zone, four in Oyo zone, seven in Ogbomoso zone and eight in Oke-ogun zone.

    He added that with the creation of the LCDAs, development would be hastened in local communities and government would be brought closer to the people.

    Arulogun reiterated that the creation of LCDAs was the government’s response to the yearnings of the people of the state for faster development at the grassroots.

    He said creation of LCDAs was a strategic management vehicle for more effective and efficient public service delivery. 

  • NASS to receive Food Hygiene bill

    A bill on the Food Hygiene Initiative of Nigeria (FHIN) will be presented to the National Assembly next week, National President of FHIN Mr. Nicolas Karimu has said.

    Karimu said there will be a meeting with the lawmaker on the bill before the official presentation.

    He spoke in Abuja at the passing out parade ceremony of 500 officers in Abuja.

    They were trained by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), at their academy.

    Karimu said they have been working with the Federal Ministry of Health and currently in 21 states.

    He said, “It is about seven months we have been working on the bill. Our lawyers are through with the bill and in the next two week it will be presented to the National Assembly. We have put together a very good bill that would assist the country fight against food and water diseases. The bill is called Food Hygiene Initiative of Nigeria, (FHIN) Act 2016. By next week we will have meeting with the lawmakers At the National Assembly before the presentation of the bill.

    “We are in about 21 states, we are creating awareness, organizing workshops, training food vendors, inspecting their activities on daily basis and reporting back to the Federal Ministry of Health. We have saved a lot of lives.

    “This organisation was established in November 2014. We have up to 1000 staff across the country. We are hoping to train more because our target is to get up to 7,000 staff that will cover the entire country. My message to the graduating people is that they should come and apply and stop saying that there is no job when there is job. Like now what we are going our staff is allowance and we do have our source of income.

    “After training those food vendors we issue them certificate of training. With that certificate we generate little revenue that comes into the purse of the organization.”

    He disclosed that all the security agencies except the military are aware of FHIN activities with strong collaborations for effective delivery.

    The Provost of Civil Defense Academy, Commandant Waheed Popoola expressed optimism that FHIN would be diligent at discharging its duties.

  • Senators and sexual harassment bill

    SIR: Nigeria is a very funny country. In a country where more than 90% of the people are living in abject poverty, people like Senator OvieOmo-Agege are chasing shadows looking for relevance. The sexual harassment bill is an attention-diverting mechanism to shield the senators from their inadequacies. Why are they not passing bills that have impact on the lives of the people?

    For the information of Omo-Agege and his co-travellers, the so-called sexual harassment is usually initiated by the purported victims in majority of the cases. Most of those girls come from very poor backgrounds but when they come to school, they want to be happening babes. They thus go into prostitution and many of their patrons are the big men in the corridors of power including our lawmakers. When politicians enter any university town, the first thing they do is to send for girls from the university. This makes them to abandon their studies and when they come back to campus, they start harassing their lecturers for marks while pledging to do ANYTHING. If the senators do not know what to do at the three-arms zone, they should go back and sit in their villages.

     

    • John Amine,

    Gboko, Benue State.

  • The sexual harassment bill

    Apart from the Constitution Amendment Bill, the yearly Appropriation Bill and Petroleum Industry Bill, I do not immediately recall any other bill that is fundamental to the future of this country as the Sexual Harassment Bill, sponsored by Sen. OvieOmo-Agege and 46 others.

    The Bill prohibits any form of sexual relationship between lecturers and their students and prescribes jail term of up to five years but not less than two years with no option of fine for lecturers who engage in sexual relationship with students.

    According to Senator Omo-Agege, the bill, among others,”makes it a criminal offence for any educator in a university, polytechnic or any other tertiary educational institution to violate or exploit the student-lecturer fiduciary relationship for sexual pleasures;  vice chancellors of universities, rectors of polytechnics and other chief executives of institutions of higher learning will go to jail for two years if they fail to act within a week on complaints of sexual harassment made by students; the Bill expressly allows sexually harassed students, their parents or guardians to seek civil remedies in damages against sexual predator lecturers before or after their successful criminal prosecution by the state.”

    A respected colleague of mine told me of an experience in 2014 when he went to visit a friendat one of the federal universities. As he walked along the corridor, a young female student emerged from a lecturer’s office and he reportedly overheard her complaining (in Yoruba) to her female colleagues waiting by the door of the don: “This lecturer is fond of pressing /fondling one’s breasts!” It is that bad. Nigerians should therefore not be stunned by the ‘confrontation’ between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and National Female Students Association of Nigeria during the Senate Public Hearing on Monday, June 20, and the dire picture in the submission of the female union.

    The National President of the female student association, Comrade Idongesit Micah, said: “Let me be very clear on our position on this bill. This is a bill that must be passed into law. It is either we enact this law to send sexual predator lecturers to prison for correction according to law under the fine democratic tenets of the rule of law or we provoke helpless parents, husbands, or guardians to, some day, pick a loaded gun and deal with this problem in a barbaric manner. Therefore, we passionately urge the Senate to ensure that it does not by inaction impose the Hobbesian state of nature of a banana republic on victims of sexual harassment in our tertiary institutions and their relatives by provoking them to fight for themselves by all means possible, including outside the law!”

    No warning could be more foreboding; a stitch in time saves nine!

    In every chance discussion since the current bill became public knowledge, almost everyone has one sorry story to tell, either about themselves, their friends, family members or acquaintances across the nation’s campuses. We are here not talking about some bad eggs, the usual escapist argument. All the eggs are bad except a few! And it is our responsibility to encourage those few dons that are nurturing a great future for Nigeria. This bill, in a way, should boost the morale of such conscientious teachers.

    Although things degenerate everyday, the situation in our higher institutions of learning today is not substantially different from what it was in 2009:

    Lecturers in Nigeria have turned our campuses into individual fiefdoms where they reign and rule; they have become gods that must be appeased by our youths. Lecturers enjoy near absolute freedom which you don’t find in other workplaces.

    I have a friend at the University of Ibadan. She’s chaste, hardworking and cerebrally endowed. She’s been on her Master’s programme for over three years now. The supervisor is always on the road or in the air and always too busy.

    “What does the professor supervisor want? Money, gift or what?” I asked.

    “Friendship!”

    “But she knows you’re married?”

    “Marriage! If you’re a spinster, they say that’s good, if you’re married, they say that’s better, and if you’re pregnant, then you are in the best condition!”

    “So the situation has sunk such deep?”

    “Some of them even tell female students to meet them in hotels, which the students must pay for… but it happens on all campuses.”

    “But why don’t you report or get another supervisor?”

    “You can’t be sure my brother; these people have a clique… And if you report, who are the people to sit in judgement? Their colleagues! So, I’m not bothered again because my hands are engaged anyway…”

    I have heard ASUU members argue, again and again, that no good student can be successfully victimized. It’s the most infantile argument I’ve even heard(in the same mould as the current argument by ASUU that the Sexual Harassment Bill violates university autonomy – as if the police require any sanction of a varsity to investigate a crime or arrest a criminalwithin that university system!); in fact, scandalous because this is coming from university dons. Students are not equally endowed. There are A students as well as B, C and Ds. While it may, theoretically, be difficult to successfully victimize an A or B candidate, it is pretty easier to victimize a C or D student. Are the average students therefore not at the mercy of prurient lecturers? And what percentage of our varsity’s students are in A or B category? Certainly, a tiny percentage. But the reality on our campuses is that no student is immune from victimization. We’ve had cases where sadistic lecturers removed some pages of answer booklets and later blamed the candidates for the offence. Even an A student may be weak in a particular course and hence could only get a D. Can such a student not be victimized easily in the said course? The dissolute teachers have however become wiser; they fail you through their proxies so you may not lay any blame at their doorsteps. The conditions on campuses are clearly weighed against the (female) students.

    The argument by ASUU that the bill is discriminatory because sexual harassment is not peculiar to tertiary institutions is equally not sustainable. In those other instances or places where you have this crime committed, they are generally among adults and fiduciary relationship is virtually non-existent. But on our campuses, our children are ranged against marauding fathers who hold the power to determine who or who does not graduate and when. The government puts these students in your care and pays you to teach them to become great asset to the country but you abuse them and turn them into liabilities to the society.

    Of course, I am very much aware of provocative dressing by some students. But if students lose their common sense, must their lecturers also lose their sense of value? Indecent dressing or not, once these randy dons set their eyes on certain students, they don’t take ‘No’ for an answer and if you dare them, they or their licentious colleagues fire you with Ds, Es and Fs. That is the cult system higher education has been reduced to in the country. Having hit a stonewall, the students succumb and go in with their fathers’ mates in order to graduate at the right time.

    I recall the authorities of the University of Lagos approved a dress code for their students over a decade ago… I was once told of a disciplinarian lecturer at UI who would not condone indecent dressing.  Students (male and female) dressed well for his classes. Such a code could be revived in all tertiary institutions of learning because we are concerned with “learning” and “character”. Students must dress responsibly. They should conduct themselves as the pride of the nation, the reason for our hope in the future.

    I have no doubt the bill will be passed by the National Assembly and President Muhammadu Buhari, the change agent, will sign it into law.

     

    • Soyombo, a public affairs commentator, sent this piece via densityshow@yahoo.com

  • Senate passes Public Procurement Bill

    The Senate yesterday passed the Public Procurement Act, 2007 Amendment Bill .

    The bill, if assented to by the President, will, among other things, give priority to locally made goods in all government procurements.

    Presenting the report at plenary, the Chairman of the Procurement Committee, Senator Joshua Dariye said the essence of the bill was to provide for and adopt the local content policy.

    According to him, certain sections of the 2007 version of the Act had been amended to favour local manufacturers and ensure speedy completion of projects.

    Said he: “Similarly, the issue of disposal which is an integral aspect of procurement has been aptly captured by the amendment in the new sub-clause 1(e).

    “The committee has equally sustained the amendment to section 34(1,2) sought by the bill for the purpose of patronising made-in-Nigeria goods; this will go a long way to encourage our Nigerian manufacturers.