The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Yusuf Lasun

  • Herdsmen massacre: Reps charge FG on security emergency

    Herdsmen massacre: Reps charge FG on security emergency

    Lawmakers in the Green Chamber on Wednesday called on the Federal and the Kaduna State governments to immediately declare a security emergency in Southern Kaduna Senatorial district over the recent massacre of over 44 persons by suspected Fulani Herdsmen.

    They also called on the government to set up a military strike force in Southern Kaduna as an interim measure to curtail incessant attacks that have been going on in the area since 2011.

    The resolution which was a continuation of a motion brought under Matters of urgent importance by a member Simon Arabo and five other lawmakers also called on the security agencies to intensify efforts to apprehend and bring to justice all persons involved in the series of attacks in the area.

    The resolution of the motion titled, “Urgent need for a declaration of emergency over the security situation in the Southern Kaduna Senatorial District of Kaduna State,” also urged the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), to provide relief materials to the internally displaced persons on account of the attacks.

    While moving the motion, Arabo alleged that various communities in Southern kaduna had been consistently attacked by Fulani terrorists since 2011 resulting in deaths, injuries, loss of properties and displacements of the communities.

    Arabo alleged that the recent attacks were in the presence of some security personnels who did nothing to prevent them.

    His words: “On the 15th-16th October 2016, Godo-godo community in Jama’a Local Government Area and other communities in Kaura and Kauru Local Government Areas have been attacked by the Fulani terrorists resulting in deaths of scores of people, injuries, wanton destruction of communities and other acts of mayhem.”

    He said that Southern Kaduna is substantially agrarian with arable and fertile lands and good weather and that subsequent to attacks by the Fulani terrorists, Fulani herdsmen had occupied some of the displaced communities.

    The House of Rep member further noted that the Federal Government had declared a security emergency in Zamfara State in the wake of similar terrorist attacks and set up a military strike force there.

    The attacks on the communities, he said, “indicated a pattern of deliberate desire to annihilate the affected communities, decimate their population, occupy their lands and create an atmosphere of terror.”

    In the time past, he said, there was a resolution to set up a military battalion/base in Kafanchan in Southern Kaduna, but the resolution was yet to be implemented, adding that there was a general atmosphere of insecurity in the area.

    However, there was a mild drama as a member Abubakar Lawan representing Yola South, Yola North Federal Constituency of Adamawa State raised a point of order, saying that the use of “‘Fulani terrorists” by Arabo was offensive to the Fulanis.

    The Deputy Speaker, Yusuf Lasun, who presided however got Arabo to expunge the word from the motion to allow peace return to the plenary.

  • Lasun, others elected as ECOWAS Parliament deputy speakers

    Lasun, others elected as ECOWAS Parliament deputy speakers

    The ECOWAS Parliament on Friday elected its deputy speakers from Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia and Cape Verde in line with the rules of procedures of the parliament.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the election was held during the inaugural session of the of the fourth legislature of the parliament in Abuja.

    The election followed the end of the four-year mandate of the third legislature which ended in August 2015 in line with the provisions of the Supplementary Protocol relating to the Parliament.

    The four deputy speakers are: Yusuf Lasun from Nigeria, First Deputy Speaker; Aminata Toungare from Cote d’Ivoire, Second Deputy Speaker.

    Others are Jefferson Kanmoh from Liberia third Deputy Speaker while Orlando Pereira Dias from Cape Verde emerged as the Fourth Deputy Speaker.

    Addressing newsmen, Lasun promised to bring his wealth of experience in Nigeria’s National Assembly into the ECOWAS Parliament.

    “The Nigerian National Assembly is well developed and from my experience, I have come to the conclusion that the Nigerian Parliament is one of the most developed in the world.

    “Anyone going from the Nigerian parliament to an international parliament has a lot of impact to make; we know the rules and we know what the parliament seeks to achieve in democracy.

    “My own area of specialisation is to make sure that whatever benefits we can get for this parliament is taken back to the Nigerian parliament and impact positively on Nigeria as a country,” he said.

    Lasun assured that the new legislature would ensure that the Supplementary Draft Act of the enhancement of powers of the parliament was signed into law.

    “As at today the parliament of ECOWAS does not have legislative powers yet and when that exists, it becomes difficult to actually impact positively on the community.

    “What we are going to do in the next four years is to make sure that this parliament has legislative powers.

    “This is so that we can properly oversight our region because one of the most important functions of a parliament is the oversight functions.”

    NAN reports that the speaker of the parliament and the four deputy speakers make up the Bureau of Parliament, responsible for overseeing the activities of parliament.

    The ECOWAS Parliament is currently a non-legislative assembly which issues advisory opinion to the Authority of Heads of State and Government and the Council of Ministers.

    The parliament has 115 seats and draws its membership from the national assemblies of member states.

    Each member state has a minimum of five seats and the remaining seats are allocated to Member States on the basis of their population.

    Nigeria has the highest number of seats with 35 seats, followed by Ghana with eight seats.

    Cote d’Ivoire has seven seats, while Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal have six seats each.

    Meanwhile, Benin, Cape Verde, the Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Togo maintain the allotted minimum number of five seats each.

    The first legislature of the parliament was inaugurated in November 2000 for a five-year tenure which ended in November 2005.

    Following the restructuring carried out in 2006, the tenure of members of the parliament was reduced from five years to four years.

     

  • Nigeria faults maltreatment of migrants, refugees

    Nigeria faults maltreatment of migrants, refugees

    Nigeria has faulted the maltreatment of migrants by some countries in Europe, saying the description of migrants as desperate, parasitic and less economically valuable group should be discarded by the countries involved.

    The Leader of the Nigerian delegation to the 133rd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) holding in Geneva, Switzerland, Yusuf Lasun, said migrants represent an increased market size and purveyor of skilled labour.

    Lasun, who is also the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, said these in his address before the General Assembly on Tuesday.

    He, however, warned that before granting asylum to migrants, all states must collaborate with the International Police (INTERPOL) and take appropriate steps to ensure such persons had no link with terrorism.

    He said: “The scale, scope and complexity of migration in today’s world have been on the increase due to a number of push and pull factors.

    “These include but not limited to hard conflicts and terrorism which has created a pool of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), economic downturn especially in many countries leading millions of migrants in search of opportunities, social strife arising from religious fundamentalism, Xenophobia, ideological intolerances, natural disasters such as desertification, flooding, earthquake and volcanic eruptions.

    “I wish to remind us that when people migrate for any of these reasons, they carry along with them their fundamental human rights within the contest of the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR).

    “Accordingly, whether migration within national boundaries or transnational borders, it is our responsibilities to evolve policies that respect the rights of refugees or asylum seekers.”

     

    ”

     

  • No plan to strip me of my powers – Lasun

    No plan to strip me of my powers – Lasun

    The Deputy Speaker, Yussuff Lasun has denied that the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara is planning to strip him of some legislative responsibilities.

    It was reported Thursday that an ad hoc committee set up by the Speaker had in its report recommended that the Deputy Speaker cease to be the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole House.

    However, in a reaction by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Wole Oladimeji, the Deputy Speaker said there was no plan by Speaker Dogara to strip him of his legislative powers.

    Besides, the report of the ad hoc Committee has neither been considered nor adopted by the House, he noted.

    It reads: “The House is constitutionally empowered to amend its rules as it deems fit and the process is aimed at enhancing the activities of the House.

    “The 8th Assembly set up an ad hoc committee to review its rule, inaugurated by the Speaker with the Deputy Speaker in attendance and once the review is concluded, the report is expected to be presented to the House for robust debate before it becomes the new House Rule for the 8th assembly.

    “It should be stated clearly that this has not been done, so the rule being referred to as stripping the Deputy Speaker of his function by the Speaker is a figment of the imagination of the writers.

    “It must be stated clearly that the Speaker and Deputy Speaker have an uncommon bond that cannot be threatened nor broken by unsubstantiated report such as this.

    “The entire members of the 8th Assembly is united and solidly behind the leadership they elected and no amount of sponsored reports can threaten the bond and unity that is now reigning supreme in the House.

    “The public should therefore discountenance this report and await the renewed zeal of members to serve Nigeria upon resumption under the leadership of Speaker Yakubu Dogara and ably assisted by the Deputy Speaker.”

  • N150bn allocation for lawmakers not over bloated – Deputy Speaker

    N150bn allocation for lawmakers not over bloated – Deputy Speaker

    The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yusuf Lasun, on Tuesday defended the N150 billion budgetary allocation for the National Assembly, saying it is not excessive.

    Lasun spoke at the inauguration of the House ad hoc committee on Welfare where he represented Speaker Yakubu Dogara.

    The Deputy Speaker while reacting to questions from reporters on the public criticism of huge salaries and allowances of the Senators and members of the House of Representatives, noted that the N150 billion received by the National Assembly annually is only 2.67 percent of the national budget.

    He said, “When you talk about salary it has to be tied to something. Let me tell you this, for the last three years with the exception of 2015, the budget of National Assembly has been N150 billion and that is exactly 2.67 percent of the total budget of the federation, so I don’t know where people see this when they said it was 25 percent of the budget of the federation.

    “The budget of the National Assembly is 2.67 percent of the budget of the federation and so it is not overblown. People have suddenly forgotten and don’t know that here are 469 members in the National Assembly with each one having five aides, paid from the N150 billion with their technocrats. We have National Assembly commission all of them draw their salaries and allowances from the N150 billion.

    “So when people talk, they say it’s only the House of Reps members and the Senators that collect the N150 billion. But they forget that in the 2015 budget, the money was reduced to N120 billion and so when you do the calculation.

    “That’s why the Dogara’s Speakership in the last one week has repeatedly made it known to the public that he’s going to engage in what we call NEEDS assessment. With that we are going to call the development partners to sit down and see what it takes for National Assembly to be involved as an arm of government and you might be surprised that we have reasons that we can compare with other legislative houses all over the world.

    “But it is not going to come from us, it will come from that body that is going to sit down.”