The Nation Newspaper

Tag: reforms

  • Coalition wants electoral reforms now

    Coalition wants electoral reforms now

    In its bid to sanitize the electoral system, Coalition of Civil Societies, Partners for Electoral Reforms PER is demanding far-reaching electoral reforms as part of the on-going amendment of the constitution.

    The Coalition said one major impediments to the conduct of credible elections is the power granted the President to appoint the chairman, national commissioners and resident electoral commissioners

    The group identified the same measure for state governors to prevent them from selecting heads of the State Independent Electoral Commissions SIEC.

    Coordinator of Centre for Policy Advocacy and Leadership Development CPALD, Ezenwa Nwagwu, who spoke with the move will clear doubts in the mind of the electorate and further guarantee that voters’ interest is represented.

    Section 153 and 154 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution as amended empowers the President to appoint INEC board and Resident Electoral Commissioners RECs. Other similar constitutional provisions empower governors to appoint board of the SIECs.

    Nwagwu said: “It is important that the FG, especially the President, is relieved of the powers to appoint the INEC chairman, its commissioners, and resident electoral commissioners while the state governors are also relieved of doing same for their state independent electoral commissions.

    “Those in elective positions must withdraw from determining membership of the various electoral positions. This seriously erodes sovereign trust and undermines confidence of the public in the government.”

    Coordinator of the Transition Monitoring Group TMG, Ibrahim Zikirullahi, restated that for the electoral body to be truly independent, its leadership should be selected through public forum, not by elected public officials.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Reforms coming, says Minister

    MINISTER of State for Finance, Dr Yerima Ngama, has said reforms were in the offing in the insurance sector to challenge the old ways of doing things.

    According to him, the reform will seek to promote ‘out of the box thinking’, to empower the professionals to log into international best practices and position the industry to play its pivotal roles in the economy.

    He spoke a lecture to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB).

    In a lecture the Managing Director, CKRe, London, Mr Peter King, said creativity and adaptation to clients’ needs are the panacea for promoting insurance broking in Nigeria.

    He said even though insurance broking has a bright future in the country, professionals must adapt to the changing trends in a global regulatory environment and pace up to the needs of the nation’s population.

    On the international scene, King said the world’s overall concept is changing dramatically towards Africa, portending that operators, including insurance brokers would face new and exciting challenges for which only fit, and ethically sound professionals would survive.

    He said given the huge international interest in Africa and the need to attract foreign investments, the international interest, a client or an international broker, must adhere to rules.

    “It is interesting to note that for many years, people outside Africa are looking towards the continent as a trading partner, which they believed have competitive advantage over the emerging markets in the Middle East and parts of Asia where political instability and terrorism are now endemic,” he said.

    King, who identified the merits of regulation to include protection of the practice of insurance broking and growth of business, protested over regulation, noting that it could discourage good brokers.

    In her welcome address, NCRIB President, Mrs Laide Osijo, noted that group has appealed to the government to assist the growth of insurance through its adherence to and encouragement of mandatory laws.

    She said governments at all levels should ensure the maximum insurance of their assets against losses, noting that some recent human and natural disasters in the country would have been taken care of if the government placed greater premium on insurance.

    In a good will message, the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Fola Daniel, advised brokers to comply with the PENCOM Act on Group Life, noting that such would boost businesses for the operators and make them relevant.

    He advised the Council to assist its members in meeting new regulatory challenges, such as its counterpart, the British Insurance Brokers Association, which has well- laid out programmes for assisting its members to meet the requirements of the financial services regulations.

    Highpoint of the celebration was the conferment of fellowship awards on Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Governors Rauf Aregbesola and Olusegun Mimiko as well as the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Fola Daniel.

  • I’ll use Police N5m for prison reforms, says Ugolor

    The Executive Director of the African Network for Environment and Economic Justice, Rev. David Ugolor, has promised to use the N5million compensation awarded to him by the court against the Nigerian Police Force as “seed money for prison and police reforms.”

    Ugolor was arrested and remanded in Oko prison after a suspect in accused him of sponsoring the murder of the Private Secretary to Governor Adams Oshiomhole, Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde.

    He was granted bail by an Edo State Criminal High Court and awarded N5million damages by Justice Esther Edigin.

    Ugolor, in a chat with our correspondent, said his experience during the period exposed him to the treatment inmates suffer in Nigeria prisons.

    He said his interaction with inmates at the prison showed that more than 90 percent of them were awaiting trial while many of them are innocent of crimes they were accused of.

    According to him: “What people are going through in Oko prison will make you lose confidence in the Nigeria project.

    “The way people are treated in Oko prison even animals will not be treated that way. The kinds of food given to inmates are not worth it.”

    He added: “It is a bitter experience. I would rather not see this experience as a bad one because it provides me an enormous opportunity to do more work.

    “We are now going to expand our work to fight for more prison reform and police reform. It is now increasingly clear that in Edo State, public interest litigation process needs real focus by the civil society.”

    On the N5million awarded to him by the court, the activist said it will be put in public litigation programme.

    His words: “I have nothing to do with that money. I will use that money to support initiatives for setting innocent prisoners free. “Police will have to pay the money. They cannot go around it. The money will be the seed money we will use to establish the public litigation programme for prison and police reform campaign in Nigeria and we are starting from Edo State.”

    He described the late Olaitan as a fantastic friend, stating his family will be consoled only when the police fish out his killers.