THE allegation of plagiarism against lawmakers over the years has become a recurring decimal. Some bills, which were stalled at various stages: First Reading, Second Reading even Third Reading in the eighth Assembly, somehow find their ways back into the records of bills slated for consideration on the floor of the House. The situation is more pronounced in the House than the Senate.
There was a recent altercation during the public hearing on the establishment of the chartered institute of forensics and certified fraud examiners of Nigeria. A fourth-term member, Honourable Uzoma Nkem-Abonta alleged that the report of a similar bill was considered and passed clause by clause on May 5 and 9, 2021, and that it passed through Third Reading. Honourable Nkem-Abonta, who sponsored the bill that had earlier been passed but denied presidential assent, alleged that his bill was copied. “While you rule, I want to expatiate on what I said. Nigeria is in need of fraud examiners, Nigeria is in need of forensic examiners. Nigeria is in need of a system that will help us cure this thing that is giving us sleepless nights: fraud. Mr Chairman, we have rules. The National Assembly is a hallowed chamber; we don’t need to create confusion. “On the 5th and 19th of this month (May), a bill on a similar thing was passed clause by clause. The allegation was made in the public, so nobody (including those who write statements from their overseas home) should come again to accuse the media of painting the House black. One of the stakeholders, who frowned at the untoward practice at the public hearing, was the Legal adviser to the Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Professionals of Nigeria, Benjamin Sekpe, in his presentation, alleged that it was their bill that was being replicated. He argued that ‘allowing the new bill to pass is just a multiplication of laws. The only difference I have seen from the bill is section 19,” Ikem-Obonta stated.
Recall that about a year ago, the media was awash with an international dimension of plagiarized: Control of Infectious Diseases Act from Singapore, in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. It was alleged by concerned interest groups and lawmakers that about 90 percent of the content of the bill was copied and pasted. While it may be impossible to wholesomely halt the trend, the Body of Principal Officers in the Senate and House of Representatives, according to observers, will need to put necessary measures in place to check such controversy in the future. The issue becomes necessary in view of the enormous efforts put into the bill which seeks to repeal the Patents Design Act of 1971 and re-enact the Patents and Designs Act 2019 in the bid to upgrade the laws governing Patents, Designs and Utility Models in Nigeria. It was sponsored by Honourable Taiwo Oluga, with the bill designed to strengthen the legal protection of inventions such as patents, utility models and designs in Nigeria.
The issue reechoed an allegation leveled against a member of the Body of Principal Officers in the seventh Assembly, who were accused of plagiarising another bill belonging to a member. It took the intervention of the then Speaker Yakubu Dogara, to calm frayed nerves. There are concerns over how those controversial bills often get into the hands of lawmakers, be it in the Senate or the House, with claims of complicity by some National Assembly members and legislative aides. Such bills sponsored by non-returned members in the previous Assembly, according to some claims, get into the hands of unsuspecting new lawmakers.
The National Assembly can learn from other lands on such issue. To curtail the trend, leaders of the Senate and House can adopt similar measures in the Romanian Parliament, where the members presented a draft bill to establish a national scientific works register to combat intellectual property violations and plagiarism specifically for the Parliament. Besides, the National Assembly can activate relevant departments in charge of bill scrutiny and put quality control measures in place towards ensuring that bills are properly scrutinised before enlisting them for First Reading. There could be a policy to ensure that every lawmaker during each Assembly either employs a professional or bill draft drafters as a senior legislative aide, since there are provisions for the employment of such personnel.
To further deepen the lawmaking process, the leaders of the Assembly need to explore the huge opportunities at the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) on bill drafting, research and other legislative services.
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