Tag: Reps

President Goodluck Jonathan got knocks from the House of Representatives yesterday with his refusal to sign 36 bills into law.

The mandatory 30 days required for the National Assembly to override them has elapsed.

He was accused of “dereliction of duty” by the lawmakers for letting the bills “stagnate” in his office “without exercising his constitutional powers.”

The House, noting that some of the bills were from the Sixth House, has decided to activate its powers under S.58 (1) (5) of the Constitution.

The House has mandated its Committee on Rules and Business, headed by Albert Sam-Tsokwa, to list some bills among the 36, which were re-introduced by members.

The decision of the House was sequel to a motion, titled: “Urgent need by the National Assembly to activate its powers under S.58 (2) (g) in relation to bills on which the President has failed to exercise his powers under S.58(1) (4),” brought on the floor by Yakubu Dogara (Bauchi PDP) .

Dogara said “pursuant to S.58 (1) (4), 36 bills were transmitted to the President for assent, which are still pending or left to stagnate” in his office.”

He said this was a violation of S.58 (1) (4), which makes it mandatory for the President to within 30 days of receiving such bills, signify that he assents or that he withholds assent.

The lawmaker said this had denied the public the benefits of new legislation, as they continue to struggle with obsolete laws.

“If nothing is done to check this violation, the Seventh Assembly would be the only Assembly with the history of not successfully translating most of its bills into law.”

Dogara said since the period of the assent has passed “there is nothing the President can do. Appealing to him to sign is like encouraging illegality.”

A member, Momoh Abubakar, described the President’s refusal to sign the bills as a “dereliction of duty.”

But a member,, Kingsley Chinda (PDP Rivers) said no action should be taken since the President had not written officially to the National Assembly that he would not assent.

Taribo Nado (Bayelsa PDP) and Simon Arabo (PDP Kaduna)supported this position.

Albert Sam-Tsokwa said there was no need to activate the provisions in question as it was never inactive in the first place.

According to him, Section 58 (4&5) is different from Section 59.

He said while Section 58 imposes a mandatory duty on the President, Section 59 imposes a mandatory duty on the legislature.

Kingsley Chinda cautioned members not to be emotional.

“If there’s a lacuna, we cannot treat it with emotions on the floor of the House,” he said.

House Leader Leo Ogor (PDP Delta) said the National Assembly should live up to its responsibility.

“It says he shall within 30 days signify. Thirty days have elapsed. The House shall pass with two-third majority. We have a responsibility to do that,” he said.

The Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, assigned the Committee on Rules and Business to review the bills and ascertain which requires that the National Assembly overrides the assent of the president.

He said: “Some of the bills that were read by Dogara were actually passed by the Sixth Assembly. Therefore, we have to determine the position of the law on such bills because some have been re-introduced.”

The House of Representatives has directed the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to refund the N1,000 fee applicants in its last recruitment exercise paid for employment form.

The Joint Committee on Public Service Matter, Employment, Labour and Productivity as well as Anti-Corruption, National Ethics and Values was mandated by the House to probe racketeering of job placement in the public service.

At the two-day public hearing yesterday, the committee decried the flagrant contravention of public service rules by the NIS, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), among others, on recruitment.

The Office of the Head of Civil Service (OHCS) denied granting recruitment waivers, a prerequisite for employment in the NCS to recruit 5,556 in 2011.

The three agencies were asked to return today, having failed to provide the committee with documents on the procedure for their recruitment.

The CAC was also unable to provide documentary evidence that due diligence was adhered to in its recruitment between 2007 and 2010.

The agency was discovered to have no policy on job recruitment since 1991, when it was created.

Also, in alleged contravention of the public service rules, CAC only advertised for employment in 2010, with appointments based on selection.

Labaran Shaibu, director, Human Resources, who represented the commission, said she was two days old on the job and could not respond to the commitee’s questions.

The NIS provided conflicting documents, and failed to follow due process in its recruitment.

A document showed that 2,005 people were employed in 2011, with another putting the figure at 2,550. Both documents, however, did not record the qualifications of the new employees.

The House committee was shocked when Secretary to the Board of Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration and Prison Service Board, Sylvanus Tapgun, the body responsible for recruitment into those agencies, said he did not know the bank account number into which the revenue generated from the sale of application forms was lodged.

He was also unable to tell the committee the firm handling the collection of the forms, and faled too to give the number of forms sold.

Tapgun also claimed to be unaware of the House Representatives’ resolution urging the NIS to stop collecting fees for the employment forms.

“I did not place the advertisement; it was done by my predecessor. I don’t know the account number. I resumed office on September 18, 2013. I read the minutes of the last meeting of the board in August and it was not about recruitment but promotion in Immigration and Prison Services,” he said.

It was also discovered that the NCS flouted the rules by recruiting 5,595 in 2011 without approval from the Head of Service, according to the Permanent Secretary, Career Management Service, Ezekiel Oyemomi.

Also, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was granted a waiver to recruit 801 workers by the Federal Character Commission (FCC), but recruited 1,146.

The House of Representatives yesterday assured the advisory committee on national dialogue/conference set up by President Goodluck Jonathan that the National Assembly would support them in their assignment.

Making the pronouncement yesterday while receiving the committee, Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha said the National Assembly was ready to enact laws that would entrench democracy in Nigeria.

Receiving the Femi Okurounmu-led committee yesterday, Ihedioha assured the advisory committee that the National Assembly would support them in whatever way possible.

Ihedioha said the committee comprised personalities with high integrity, adding that the presidential panel should keep interacting with the legislature to have good inputs into their recommendations.

He said: “We’re very ready at any time to do anything that will enhance the lives of Nigerians. We’ll do whatever we can to ensure the unity of the country and see to it that democracy is entrenched Nigeria. So, we’ll give you our support where necessary.”

According to him, the voting by members on the constitution review proposals in July showed that the House has since begun the process of engaging Nigerians in national dialogue and indeed kept faith with their wishes and aspirations of the people.

The House of Representatives Committee on Industry yesterday backed the Federal Government’s decision to increase tariff on imported vehicles.

The Federal Executive Council recently approved new measures aimed at transforming the automotive sector and ultimately put Nigeria among the league of auto producing countries.

The Chairman, House Committee on Industry, Rep. Mohammed Onawo made the declaration in Abuja when his committee visited the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment on oversight functions.

He said the introduction of tariff to protect indigenous manufacturers would increase the capacity utilisation of the sector.

“The Committee believes that anybody who is going to import a complete car should pay higher tariff than somebody who is manufacturing here,” he said.

He said that was the only way the local industry could be protected.

“The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment is one of the most important ministries in terms of helping to diversify our economy.

“We are, therefore, calling on the necessary organs of the government to give special attention to the funding of automotive industry so that our economy can be better,” Onawo said.

He also said the implementation of the new measures would attract new investments into the sector, protect local automotive manufacturers and create employment.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga, said the ministry would partner stakeholders in the implementation of the Industrial Revolution Plan.

He said the new automobile policy would fast-track industrialisation, create jobs and generate wealth.

“The new measures to transform the automotive sector is part of our Industrial Revolution Plan, which is holistic and based on areas where we have comparative and competitive advantage as a country,” Aganga said.

The House of Representatives yesterday streamlined the usage of diplomatic passports by presidential beneficiaries to reduce their abuse.

Heads of fire service and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) are no longer to hold diplomatic passports, the House said.

Those who are still eligible for the diplomatic passports include: The President and his spouse; Vice President and his spouse; the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Deputy Senate President, Deputy Speaker and members of the National Assembly.

Others are: the governors, former Heads of State, deputy governors, former Vice Presidents, Justices of the Supreme Court, President of the Court of Appeal, ministers, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Head of Service to the Government of the Federation and Clerk of the National Assembly.