I Have Highest Number Of Bills In Senate–
President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Chris Isiguzo, has tasked members of the profession to imbibe the spirit of peaceful journalism instead of overheating the polity.
He urged media practitioners to maintain the highest moral and ethical standards in their practice during and after the 2023 general elections.
Isiguzo spoke at a capacity building workshop for journalists and civil society organisations in the North Central on conflict sensitive reporting for the 2023 general elections at a workshop in Abuja yesterday.
He called on media practitioners to exhibit decorum, especially at these moments that the nation is experiencing fragile peace, describing peace as the catalyst for rapid development of every society.
The event was jointly organised by INEC, NUJ and Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) and powered by the Commonwealth and Development Office.
Isiguzo said peace is a basic requirement in a democracy, noting that no democracy can flourish in an atmosphere of rancor and acrimony.
The NUJ president said deliberate efforts must be made towards conflict resolution and peace building in the country, adding that is possible to eliminate skirmishes in the society.
Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State, Senator Uba Sani, has said he is the only senator that has two bills that have been signed into law in the 9th senate.
The lawmaker said he has sponsored 31 bills and seven of them have been passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, waiting for the president’s assent.
“And by the Grace of God, I will ensure that three or four of these bills are assented to before I leave the senate,’’ he added.
Senator Sani who represents Kaduna Central Senatorial District at the upper legislative chamber, said that the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) gubernatorial candidate spent eight years in the House of Representatives but has never sponsored a bill or moved a motion throughout that period.
The legislator further said that the New Nigerian Peoples Party(NNPP) candidate has moved a few motions in his four years as senator but there not a single bill to his credit.
The gubernatorial candidate made these disclosures when he addressed the Political Committee of the Kaduna chapter of Nigerian Labour Congress(NLC) yesterday.
He further said all his 31 bills, including the ones that have been assented by President Muhammadu Buhari, centre on people’s welfare, especially the Bank and Other Financial Institutions Act(BOFIA) amendment Law which focuses on financial inclusion for the downtrodden.
Senator Uba Sani said 70% of adults in northern Nigeria are unbanked and this partly explains the high level of poverty in the area, adding that that is why ‘’I included a clause in the BOFIA bill, mandating anyone that is 18 years and above should be financially included.’’
The senator also said the amendment Bill to the Asset Management Corporation of
Nigeria(AMCON) Law, is aimed at instituting justice and equity as well as ensuring transparency.
‘’In 2009, when banks were going down because of the global economic recession, Nigerian government brought out N4.7 trillion to buy bad loans from the banks.
‘’ What it means is that individuals borrowed money from the banks to the tune of N4.7 trillion, and the banks themselves were going down and this will affect the entire economy.
Senator Sani recalled that AMCON was created to take over those loans and it paid money to the banks in order to keep them afloat and AMCON was mandated to recover that money.
‘’But when I came into the senate in 2019, I looked at the list and realized that 350 Nigerians were responsible for the N3 trillion debt. And who are these Nigerians?
‘’Most of them have houses in America, in the United Kingdom and Dubai. Some of them even had private jets,’’ the gubernatorial candidate disclosed, adding that about 2,000 Nigerians were responsible for the remaining N1.7 trillion debt.
Senator Sani said what these figures showed was that Nigerian tax payers money was used to save some banks and AMCON has been unable to recoup this money from some rich people, who seem to be above the law.
According to him, it is unacceptable for few elites to live off the commonwealth of the nation and the practice is also undemocratic, adding that ‘’I kept complaining in the senate and saying that we need to amend the AMCON Act.’’
The legislator then asked AMCON officials what the impediments against the recovery were and they said that most of the debtors are rich and powerful people who frustrated their efforts with endless litigations.
L-R: Director, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), Dr Justin Nickaf; representative of the director, Product Certification, SON, Engr Shuaibu Onucheyo; Prof Olobayo Kule; director general of SON, Malam Farouk A. Salim, and director, Human Resources, Barr Umaru Kawu, during a press conference to kick-start the golden jubilee anniversary of the agency in Abuja on Thursday. PHOTO BY IBRAHIM MOHAMMED
The director general, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Prof. Ayo Omotayo, has said the institute has practical solutions in its archive and library that can change the face of Nigeria.
Addressing newsmen in Kuru near Jos yesterday, he said; “I can tell you that in our library and archive, we have a very rich repartoire and practical solutions to the problems bedeviling our nation.”
He said one major thing he found out on assumption of office about eight months ago was the near absence of visibility of the institute at the national dialogue and a very poor policy uptake over the years.
Prof. Omotayo lamented that when the federal government sent in very high level individuals for reflection engagement and research to proffer solutions to some national problems based on national priority he expected that some of the solutions that come out should have been adopted by stakeholders.
He said; “I found out that most of the practical solutions hardly go out to where it should be. So for me I felt visibility is very key and we need to reposition the institute and put it on the pedestal where whatever actions or activities we are carrying out must be shown to Nigerians.”
The director-general further noted that in order to achieve the said objective he had reformed the media and protocol apparatus to continue to project the programmes activities of the institute to Nigerians and the entire world.
He explained that on assumption to office he has embarked on a visit to stakeholders like the senate president, speaker, House of Representatives, Sultan of Sokoto, the Gbong Gwom Jos, Olu of Warri, ministers of communication and foreign affairs and many others to bring them at par with the institute.