Tag: seeks

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday submitted to the Senate a Bill seeking the prohibition of chemical weapons in the country.

Senate President David Mark read the covering letter of the Bill, entitled: Chemical Weapons Prohibition Bill, 2012, on the floor of the Senate.

Apparently to underscore the importance of the Bill, Jonathan asked the lawmakers to accord it expeditious consideration.

The letter reads: “I hereby introduce for formal consideration and enactment into law by the Senate, The Chemical Weapons Prohibition Bill.”

A chemical weapon is said to be a device that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on human beings.

Studies say chemical weapons may also be classified as weapons of mass destruction, though they are separate from biological weapons (diseases), nuclear weapons (which use sub-nuclear fission) and radiological weapons (which use radioactive decay of elements).

Chemical weapons can be widely dispersed in gas, liquid and solid forms and may easily afflict others than the intended targets.

Nerve gas and tear gas are said to be two modern examples.

The Geneva Protocol, officially known as the Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other gasses, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, is an international treaty prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons.

No date has been fixed for the first reading of the Bill.

Apart from the Chemical Weapons Prohibition Bill, Jonathan also submitted the Pension Reform Bill for the consideration of the Senate.

If  a  Bill seeking to alter relevant sections of the Constitution sails through at the National and state Houses of Assembly, the Auditor-General for the Federation and the Auditor-General for states may become financially autonomous.

The Bill is seeking to place the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation and offices of the Auditors-General for the states on the First Line Charge of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Sponsored by Senator Ahmed Lawan (Yobe North), the Bill also seeks to empower the Auditor-General for the Federation and that of the states to audit the accounts of statutory corporations, commissions, authorities and agencies.

Apart from financial autonomy, it wants timely release of funds and enhanced funding for the offices at both the federal and state levels.

Lawan, in his lead debate, noted that a significant impediment to the performance of the AGF is the system and level of funding over the years.

He said: “In other climes, the office of the AGF is funded by direct appropriation by the parliament.

“In those jurisdictions, the office of the AGF submits its annual financial requirements to the parliament and the parliament approves what it deems necessary for his operation.”

He noted that the task of providing adequate funding for the office of the AGF lies squarely with the parliament because “the Executive Arm of Government would logically prefer, an under-funded, weak, inefficient office of the AGF.”

He said the same thing applies to the states.

Lawan said that the Bill was in response to the need to provide the legislation to address necessary challenges that informed the Bill.

The Bill unanimously sailed through second reading and was referred to the Senate Committee on Constitution Review for legislative work.

To achieve the aim of prison services, the Federal Government has been asked to be more concerned about staff welfare.

The Ojora of Ijora land, Oba Abdulfatai Oyeyinka Aromire said prison staff, especially warders, must be well paid to do their jobs.

“It is a pity that the prisons’ workers are not well remunerated despite playing prominent role in reforming convicts,” said Oba Aromire, a former prison welfare.

The monarch, who spoke with The Nation in his palace, added: “Warders in the past were made to enjoy a lot of things in the service. They were provided with excess boots and uniforms; though the salary was small, we could conveniently save from what we earned. It is so bad now that the workers are not committed and that is among reasons inmates break jail every time.”

He listed congestion, lack of good care for inmates and location of prisons around residential areas as other reasons for said break.

“The location of prisons where people live is not good; it is dangerous because these convicts have been made to be too close to the people and from what I have observed, when they are mixed with people through the connivance of the warders, they get a lot of harmful things like Indian hemps and saw blades smuggled to them,” Ojora said, adding: “Imagine prison inmates using cell phones. That alone has made it very easy to plan their escape with contacts outside the prison.”

He also spoke on efforts being made by his traditional council to reduce crime in his domain, saying: “Before I ascended the throne, Ijora was a ‘no go’ area, but now, criminals have been sent packing. That is why we have a police station in Badiya and today, we have peace in this place.”

The monarch praised Governor Babatunde Fashola for what he called “fast development of the state,” adding: “Fashola is working; before his predecessor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu came into office, Lagos was at a standstill but when he came, he created more Local Council Development Authorities that have really helped Fashola to move the state forward.”