The Nation Newspaper

Tag: process

  • Due Process: NGO praises Akwa Ibom Governor

    A non-govermental  organisation (NGO) in Uyo, Policy Alert has commended the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel,  for appointing a Senior Special Assistant on Technical Matters and Due Process.

    “This is a welcome development, an important first step towards enthroning a culture of due process in governance in the state,”  Tijah Bolton, said.  “For years we have been advocating for a clearly defined policy framework on public procurement and fiscal responsibility in this state. We see the appointment of a Senior Special Assistant to the Governor with clear mandate on Due Process as one of the  early wins of our advocacy on this issue,” he said.

    The organisation urged the state government to take the next important step towards promoting a culture of due process in the state by initiating an executive bill on public procurement and ensuring independence for the unit.

    It said due process is a culture, it is an ecosystem, and it requires other important elements to work, adding that one of these is a procurement law regime which would help the administration to achieve its set goals by institutionalising best practices in price intelligence and public procurement” he added.

    “The share of states and local governments in public expenditure currently stands at around 52 percent of total federal collectable allocation. This tells us that states have more work to do in terms of reforms. So due process at this level is really crucial especially at this time when state governments need to plug expenditure leakages in the context of declining overall revenue flows.

    “All public procurement systems are known as one of the biggest drivers of public sector corruption. Therefore by expanding the remit of the Bureau of Technical Matters to cover due process issues, the governor has given an early signal that his administration will be reform oriented. As civil society, we have reason to be hopeful that in the shortest possible time our advocacy on procurement reforms will yield further results,” he added.

  • CJN warns magistrates against scuttling electoral process

    CJN warns magistrates against scuttling electoral process

    •Mohammed advises ICPC on thorough probe

    The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, has warned magistrates against allowing themselves to be used by politicians to scuttle the electoral process.

    He also advised the authorities of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) to be thorough in its investigation and support its cases with cogent evidence to avert delays in the prosecution of corrupt cases.

    Justice Mohammed, according to a statement by his media aide, Ahuraka Yusuf Isah, spoke in Abuja at the weekend when representatives of the Magistrates Association of Nigeria (MAN) and ICPC visited him.

    The national executives of MAN were led by its Acting National President, Chief Magistrate Victoria Isiguzo.

    “I must urge you to shun corruption and unnecessary affiliation with the political class or politically exposed persons, who may not hesitate to turn you into instrument of intimidation or use you to remove his or her rivals from circulation during this year’s election cycle,” the CJN told the magistrates.

    The CJN in January, while inaugurating members and chairmen of electoral tribunals, handed out a similar warning to judges.

    He urged the magistrates to stop imposing stringent bail conditions, which indirectly had contributed to the congestion in the nation’s prisons.

    He urged them to desist from indulging the police in granting pre-trial detention of suspects because in most cases, the police were ill-prepared to prosecute their cases.

    The CJN noted that many people were being held in custody without charges, while others were detained pending further investigation, otherwise known as “awaiting trial”.

    He observed that a number of people were being detained on first information reports which, upon examination, might operate as holding charge, thereby allowing the prosecutor fish for more evidence to back up their trial, while the accused persons languish in custody.

    “A corollary to this is the imposition of such bail terms, which an accused has no real hope of meeting.  I wish to use this medium to counsel magistrates to judiciously and carefully exercise their discretion to remand and consider alternatives to detention where possible, and to set reasonable bail terms as appropriate,’’ he said.

    The CJN said effort was on to ensure proper recognition of magistrates in the constitution as judicial officers.

    He said: “Magistrates perform judicial functions and they are bound by the Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers, but Section 318 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) does not recognise them as judicial officers.

    ‘’Consequently, we are including proposals to the National Assembly that the magistrates be formally considered as judicial officers as defined under Section 318 of the Constitution, given the undeniable relevance of our Magistracy to justice dispensation in the country.’’

    The CJN told the ICPC delegation led by its Chairman, Ekpo Nta, that the commitment of the Judiciary to speedy dispensation of justice led to the introduction of Practice Directions in 2013 to fast-track major crimes and corruption cases in addition to designating some judges/courts to deal mainly with economic crimes and corruption cases.

    Justice Mohammed advised the commission to avail itself of these rules and the designated courts so as to ensure that corruption and economic crimes cases were promptly heard.

    The CJN advised the commission to strengthen its investigation and prosecution units and support charges with evidence for speedy trial of cases.

  • Follow due process, says Ekweremadu

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu has urged those agitating for states to follow due process .

    According to him, the constitution amendment cannot create states but can provide procedures for state creation.

    The Deputy Senate President said the Senate would also carry out another public hearing in all the geo-political zones on Thursday and Friday.

    He said the creation of states is cumbersome because the 36 states has to vote.

    Ekweremadu said it was a give-and-take exercise and appealed to governors and stakeholders to close ranks and decide on the states to be created.

    “Let us coordinate ourselves,” he said.

    Responding to a question on the sovereign national conference, Ekweremadu said it is not provided for in the constitution.

    The Deputy Senate President said what is in the constitution is the amendment of “the constitution and we are a country ruled by law therefore things extra constitutional, extra legal otherwise is anarchy.”

    He pointed out that this is the first time the Nigerian constitution is receiving input from the grassroots and that people should be free to say their mind.

     

  • Unworthy process

    Unworthy process

    •Only this can explain why we honour someone today only to strip him shortly after 

    Monday, 17th September was another day for the Nigerian elite to show- case their latest wardrobe acquisitions. The venue was the International Conference Centre (ICC) in Abuja. The event was the 2012 National Honours Awards Investitures for 155 recipients. For many of the awardees, the journey to being crowned a National Honours recipient was no easy one. Since the awards have come to be seen as a status symbol of sorts, many would go to any length to get their names on the list. But, amidst the pomp and pageantry, the point was clearly not lost on President Goodluck Jonathan, who presided over the event, that the prestige of the awards had over the years become eroded.

    It was thus to restore confidence in the awards that the President promised that the honours would be withdrawn from all those who are found to be of questionable character or have fallen short of public expectation. Unfortunately, very many Nigerians, as well as this newspaper, did not put much store by the President’s words. He sounded more like a politician making the right sound bites. The truth of the matter is that it does not take skills in rocket science to identify the ‘unworthy awardees’, blacklist them and strip them of the awards.

    For instance, it is well known that former Inspector-General of Police, Mr Tafa Balogun; former Managing Director of Oceanic Bank, Mrs Cecilia Ibru and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, are all awardees who have been convicted for one misdemeanour or the other. What then stops the Presidency from taking decisive action on these and similar cases, to demonstrate that the President is actually sincere about his threat?

    In any case, is there not something wrong with a process that throws up awardees for the country’s most prestigious honours, who within a short time, are discovered to exhibit character traits making them unfit for the honours? We believe that part of the problem is that the process, which throws up many of these awardees is itself faulty and unworthy. Why, for instance, should certain office holders become automatic holders of some awards simply by virtue of their positions? What then happens if they abuse their offices or commit some infractions that compel their exit from office? Would it not be better to wait until such individuals had completed their tenures meritoriously before they are honoured?

    In Taraba State, Governor Danbaba Danfulani Suntai got the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) award. His Deputy, Alhaji Sani Abubakar Danladi, who had been slated for the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR), had his nomination withdrawn at the last minute ostensibly because he had disagreements with his governor and was facing impeachment threat by the House of Assembly. Again, do the governors not have an overbearing influence on the process of selecting awardees? Does it mean someone from a given state can be denied the honour if the governor does not like his or her face, and no matter how qualified the person is for the award?

    Of course, there are some outstanding Nigerians who were honoured this year, most deservedly. A good example is Chief Mike Adenuga, a foremost entrepreneur, businessman and employer of labour. Others include the six Paralympics gold medallists, Mohamed Tahir Zakari, a level 10 officer of the Office of the Accountant-General, who returned an overpayment to him of N6 million, and Mr. Jelani Aliyu who designed the world’s first electric chair. But then, a list of over 100 awardees every year is unwieldy and can only encourage the emergence of unworthy characters as awardees.