THE Ninth National Assembly is not new to being in the news, either for good or not-so-good reasons. By virtue of some bills being discussed on the floor recently, it has, once again, attracted the attention of Nigerians. Nigerians have not forgotten the hoopla that followed the mooting of the anti-social media bill. The same goes for the infamous hate speech bill entertained on the floor of the National Assembly also.
The latest of such controversial bill is the one proposing a ban and severe punishment on importation, selling and use of generators in the country, fuelling further discussions among Nigerians about the activities of members if the National Assembly, particularly Senate. The bill came just as the fire over another contentious bill proposing a five-star treatment for criminal terrorists, who have been found to have repented after killing and maiming innocent Nigerians in their bid to occupy a certain portion of the country.
Expectedly, concerned Nigerians and civil society organisations have expressed discontent over the activities of the National Assembly with regard to these contentious legislations that have often generated furore.
The latest bill is sponsored by Senator Mohammed Enagi (Niger South). The bill, which was read and had passed first reading at Senate plenary on Wednesday, proposes a jail term of not less than 10 years for any person who imports generating sets or knowingly sells generating sets in the country.
The proposed bill, according to its promoter, seeks to prohibit or ban the importation of generating sets to curb the menace of environmental (air) pollution and to facilitate the development of the power sector. It, however, calls for the exclusion of some services for which generating sets may serve. Among these are medical services, airports, railway stations and services, elevators, escalators, research institutions and such facilities that require 24-hour electric power supply.
But not a few Nigerians described this bill as an “insane and unwarranted provocation” as well as an assault on the sensibilities of Nigerians.
Speaking with Sunday Tribune over the development, the convener of Take Back Nigeria, Comrade Jaye Gaskiya, said the bills that emanated from the National Assembly in recent times, especially the latest one have exposed and demonstrated the depth of the senators’ inability to comprehend the challenges confronting the Nigerian economy.
Comrade Gaskiya asked the Senate to drop the bill, as it was not a legislation that the Nigerian Senate should give a second look.
He said the Nigerian economy, which has been put at over $500 billion, is powered by over 45,000 megawatts of electricity power. While public power supply stands at between 3,000 megawatts and 4,000 megawatts, amounting to less than 10 per cent of the electricity power requirement in the country, the deficit power is sourced from generators used in different sphere of the country, wondering what informed the decision of the sponsor of the bill.
Comrade Gaskiya asked the Senate to focus on overhauling the sector to meet the power requirement of the country through legislation that would empower organisations and business hubs to develop their own power from whatever sources to power industrialisation, while the excess are sent to the national grid for use by residential areas.
“It is senseless. I can understand trying to prohibit importation of generators. If you want to grow your local industry by promoting local assembling, I can understand such law. It will make economic development.
“It makes absolutely no sense to ban importation, sale and then the usage of generators, because you want to promote power when you have not done anything to improve the power situation in the country, without putting in place alternatives.
“Are you guaranteeing that there will be 24-hour light for citizens? Are you guaranteeing that every citizen will be on the national grid or any other grid that you are making available? Are you guaranteeing that there is going to be power for every citizen? Are you also guaranteeing that every citizen who wants to access electricity will also get prepaid meters? You have not done any of these things and then, you want to create a law to ban generators import, and usage in the country.
“It seems to me as something that is strange and insane actually. I do not think that is the kind of law the National Assembly should be enacting.
“One of the things that these lawmakers do not understand is that when you look at the size of the Nigerian economy, which is now over $500 billion, and look at what we generate as electricity, you know that that is not what is powering the economy.
“What is powering the size of the economy that we have is closer to 45,000 megawatts of electricity. And if the official one on the transmission grid is not more than 4,000 megawatts, it means that we expend more than 40,000 megawatts from elsewhere, the bulk of which is sourced from generators, particularly diesel generators.
“If you are saying that, you are actually demonstrating a complete lack of understanding of how the economy works and what is powering the economy. As far as the economy is concerned, if they do that, it would be counter-productive, because as I said earlier, you have not placed any alternatives in place to aid in the local production. That, for me, is the biggest challenge.
“What they have been doing with the power sector is to look at why the GENCOs and DISCOs are not generating and fulfilling their contracts respectively or why transmission is failing. They are not looking in totality at the amount of energy needed to drive the economy and identify where the gaps are. That is what they really need to do now. You need to understand how we can ensure power works and does so permanently,” he said.
Gaskiya stated further that “it makes a lot more sense to have a policy and a law that tends to drive the option for alternative and mini-grids in the country, so that you can have laws that encourage the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) to encourage the various chambers of commerce in various industrial hubs to actually mount their own communal power plants and supply themselves and also supply the national grid.
“When you create mini-grids like that to feed their excesses to the national grid, that will make a lot more sense and you fill a lot more gap in the energy chain and drive the development power for the economy.”
Why always Niger senators?
While also dismissing the bill, the Lead Director at Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), Eze Onyekpere, said it is a mere proposal, which the wisdom of the Senate should guide to drop, wondering why the three controversial bills should originate from senators of the same state.
“It is a proposal that somebody made. So, I do not think it will scale through. We should not bother ourselves about it. What has become of these senators? One is calling for the ban of generators; the other is calling for the ban of the social media and yet, the other is calling for the ban of non-governmental organisations (NGOs). It is a joke…,” Onyekpere told Sunday Tribune in a telephone interview in Abuja.
The same Senate wants amnesty for insurgents
While venting her view on some of the controversial legislations initiated by members of the National Assembly, Head, Social Action, an NGO, Vivian Bellonwu-Okafor, argued that the bill sponsored by the Nigeria Senate seeking to grant amnesty to ‘repentant’ insurgents is as unfortunate as the one seeking ban of importation of generators.
“For a terrorist group that has waged war against the people of Nigeria for almost a decade, the move is unacceptable and this is unfair incentive for vicious murderers,” she said.
Mrs. Bellonwu-Okafor explained that the hate speech bill shows how the government is resisting transparency and accountability, a development she said had resulted in loss of confidence in government and processes.
“This is government’s attempts to gag and criminalise citizens for freely expressing their opinions. The proposed death penalty for offenders is appalling,” she noted.
On the anti-social media bill, which seeks to regulate engagement on social media, Mrs. Bellonwu-Okafor, who described the proposed legislation as “a worrisome move,” argued that members of the National Assembly championing the bill ought to know that “it is needless and it violates fundamental human rights, principally being the freedom of expression. This unfortunate bill violates international law protecting freedom of speech and stifles peaceful and constructive criticism of government activities.
“With over 29 million users across Nigeria and this figure is projected to grow to 36.8 million by 2023, social media is a critical tool for shaping public discourse. Our lawmakers must ensure the upholding of rights of every citizen to peaceful and constructive criticism of government activities without fear of backlash or intimidation of any sort. The pillars of democracy are hinged on this.
“One of the major downs of the present administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari is the disconnection between the government and the people. Its inability to properly think through policies and how it affects the people before implementing has caused far-reaching damage, not only to the polity and the economy, but also Nigerians as a whole. A most recent and glaring case in point being the over $22 billion loan the Senate approved for the government.
“Nigerian lawmakers must think through proposed bills and policies holistically and as a matter of necessity involve the people before acting on them. People need to have a say in a state’s legislations and policies; ultimately, they are made for the people. In many democracies, citizens’ participation in policy-making and service design is placed at the centre of policymakers’ considerations. But sadly, that is not the case in Nigeria.
“The system is clearly broken. The government is at a loss on how to carry the people along in policy-making. Good policies are policies that attend to the problems of the people, not the ones that aggravate the people’s woes.
“There is need for engagement space, which will provide platform for the people to come together with the government to learn more about critical issues, ask questions and make contributions.
“An effective citizen-centric engagement should drive the agenda-setting process and policy making process in a democratic governance,” Bellonwu-Okafor stressed.