Lawmakers to force President, govs name cabinets within a month

From Ndubuisi Orji and Kemi Yesufu, Abuja

Barely 72 hours after the Nigeria Customs Services (NCS) banned vehicles imporation through land borders, the House of Representatives yesterday put it on hold

This is even as the lawmakers moved to give the President and governors 30 days to appoint ministers and commissioners respectively.

The NCS had last Monday announced the ban which would have taken effect from January 1, 2017.

The House also urged the executive to ensure that the law enforcement agencies, especially those working at the borders are diligent in their duties by ensuring that import charges from land borders are paid promptly to the government.

The Green Chamber also canvassed for the installation of surveillance equipment for effective monitoring, to curtail smuggling.

The House urged the government to expand its youths empowerment programmes, by establishing skill acquisition centres in border communities.

This is sequel to a motion on the “Need to suspend the ban on importation of vehicles through the land borders”, sponsored by Hon, Balarabe Salame (APC, Sokoto).

However, the resolutions were reached after a heated debate, as members were divided on the issue.

Leading the debate, Salame said the ban would be counter-prodictive. He noted that apart from the loss of revenue, it will impose more economic hardship on Nigerians.

The lawmaker said not only would the employees lose their jobs, a lot of Nigerians would find it difficult to own vehicles as the price would skyrocket.

Salame said that was the same thing that happened when the government banned the importation of rice through the land borders.

According to him, as soon as the government banned rice importation, the price rose from N8,000 to between N20,000 and N23,000 per 50kg bag presently.

He said government was losing revenue through the land borders because of the corruption of security agencies manning the areas, and not because importers were not paying import duties.

“Instead of banning importation of vehicles through the land borders, let us strengthen the borders, so that anybody importing through land, pays the correct duties.

“Similar exercise of such powers on rice importation through the land borders in April 2016, has occasioned untold hardship on Nigerians, as a bag of rice now sells for between N20, 000 and N23, 000 as against N8,000 a few months ago,” Salame said.

On his part, Hon. Linus Okorie (PDP, Ebonyi) said Section 18 of the Customs and Excise Management Act empowers the minister to restrict import into and out of the country.

Hon. Ahmed Baba Kaita (APC, Kastina), who opposed the motion, said there is a lot of misinformation about the recent ban. He said as painful as the policy may be, it is a step in the right direction.

Meanwhile, the House yesterday passed for Second Reading a bill seeking to set a 30-day limit for the appointment of ministers and commissioners by the president and governors.

The ‘Bill for an Act to alter Sections 147 and 192 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999’ to provide that the nomination and appointment of ministers and commissioners shall be made not later than 30 days from the date the president or governors, when passed into law will also make it mandatory for governors and the president to attach the portfolios of their nominees to the parliament for screening.

Specifically, the bill is aimed at altering Section 147 of Cap C23 of the 1999 Constitution by inserting a new subsection (7) after the existing Subsection (6): “That the president shall not later than 30 days from taking oath of office and oath of allegiance submit the list of ministers and the portfolio to the Senate for consideration”.

With regards to states, the bill intends to alter Section 192 of Cap C23 of the laws of the federation to read: “A governor of a state shall not shall not later than 30 days from date of taking oath of office and oath of allegiance submit the list of commissioners and their portfolios to the State House of Assembly for consideration”.

Sponsor of the bill, Solomon Adaelu, told the House that the bill had become necessary following the delay in appointing ministers by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Recall that President Buhari who was sworn in on May 29, 2015, inaugurated his cabinet on November 11, 2015.

According to the lawmaker, not only did a  good number of Nigerians and friends of the country express dissatisfaction on the Federal Government running for months without ministers, the delay in appointing ministers led to investors withdrawing from the country and the capital market recording losses.

While acknowledging that the president and governors have the discretion of nominating ministers and commissioners, Adaelu emphasised the law must ensure that the entire process of appointing a cabinet at the state and federal level is done on time.

The House yesterday also passed for Second Reading a Bill for an Act to Alter Section 68(1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution  to further provide a proviso on the vacation of seats by legislators and for other related matters.