Members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday passed through Second Reading a bill that seeks to provide a legislative framework for handing over the process by the outgoing President and Vice President to democratically elected President and Vice President.
The private member sponsored by Hon. Kpam Sokpo, seeks to establish the Transition and Assumption of Office Committee consisting of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) as chairman, with other members including Attorney General of the Federation, Permanent Secretaries of Federal Ministries of Internal Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Information.
Others are Inspector General of Police, Chief of Defence Staff, National Security Adviser (NSA) to the President, Chief of Staff to the President, Deputy Clerk to the National Assembly, Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, six persons nominated by the President-elect from the six geopolitical zones, and Coordinator appointed under section 7 of the proposed bill.
The committee shall facilitate the handover by the outgoing president and vice president to the president-elect and vice president-elect; organize and ensure the provision of security for the president-elect and vice president-elect as well as coordinate briefings of the president-elect and vice president-elect, among others.
Section 7 of the proposed bill also seeks to establish the transition and assumption of office fund which shall be appropriated by the National Assembly in the presidential election year, upon declaration of the final election of the presidential election.
According to him, the bill in line with the provisions of section 4(6 and 7) also provides for the State House of Assembly to make laws on the transition of office of the governor-elect and deputy governor-elect, respectively.
Section 19 of the proposed bill also provides for the appointment of ministers, boards of federal institutions and parastatals, in line with section 147 and 302 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) which mandates the president to make appointments within a specified timeframe to ensure the effective and seamless take-off of government.
H added that Part 4 of the proposed bill further provides for the vacation of official residence, offences and penalties, among other things.
In his contribution, the Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Toby Okechukwu, who commended the intent of the proposed bill, stressed the need to look at the mischief that the bill seeks to cure.
“It cures the mischief of discretion that somebody comes in and continues to act in a way and manner he likes. It cures the mischief of lack of precision. The transition period is a period when the country could be vulnerable so it is a time we must establish some level of certainties. The time when ministers must be coming, the time when particular activity, committees and federal boards must set in. It is not a time for us to begin to watch the body language of anybody.
“In other jurisdictions, for instance in America, when America was actually wobbling, when there was lack of motivation by the outgoing government to get transition for President Biden to come in, the transition committee which was also established by Act of Parliament was asked to do their job. And they had to because by regulations, by Act of convention and practice they needed to do it.
“While this is critically important is that in 2015, we lost about six months due to the fact that the cabinet of the present government was not constituted. The opportunity cost for Nigeria was that we did not take off on time.
“That same thing happened in 2019 so this bill goes to cure that mischief, that we don’t allow this federation to be subject to the discretion of an individual. It is a country of rules and a country of laws and we must be seen to obey our laws. It’s not something that by the time you are constituting your cabinet the government is half gone.
“The same thing happens in the state where somebody is elected as governor, for six months or one year he did not constitute his cabinet. It should not be allowed to happen! So I think this bill should go to second reading, it should prudently be monitored and it should cure the effects, defects of the present government where we have lost almost one year without a cabinet being constituted,” he noted.
To this end, the bill was referred to the House Committee on Special Duties for further legislative action.
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