News
Senate Proposes Death Penalty For Child Rape …Says ‘We’re Waiting For Ministerial Nominees’
Worried by the incessant cases of child rape across the country, the Senate, yesterday, moved to frame laws that would make perpetrators face capital punishment.
Moving the motion on Order 42 and 52 of Senate Rules, Senator Rose Oko, representing Cross River North Senatorial District explained that victims of child rape have been on the increase, a situation she said was worrisome, urging the upper chamber to intervene.
“Mr. President, distinguished colleagues, I rise on Order 42 and 52 of Senate Rules to explain a very disturbing issue of child rape. Mr. President, I want to say that this matter is alarming and we need to deal with it”, Oko said.
Reacting, Senator representing Lagos Central Senatorial District, Oluremi Tinubu said those indulging in child abuse deserve death penalty.
Tinubu wondered what perpetrators stand to benefit from such heinous acts, adding that, “raping a child is synonymous to killing that child.
“Imagine a child who doesn’t know anything and was raped. If you ask the child victim to stand in law court, what would she tell the judge?”
Corroborating, Senator Sabi Abdulahi, representing Niger North, argued that the Senate must intervene by putting stiffer penalties for perpetrators.
Also speaking, Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege stated that there were enough rape laws, stating that the challenges were those of enforcement and implementation.
According to him, court judges, perhaps, have too much discretion; saying that Senate should review these laws with a view geared towards tying their hands in a manner that they would be forced to pass judgement without deciding otherwise.
“Judges have too much discretion. Even governors too have prerogative of mercy where they visit prison yards and set inmates free.”
In his contribution, Senator Chukwuka Utazi, representing Enugu North Senatorial District, called for psychiatric test on perpetrators of child abuse.
The lawmaker added that the school curriculum should also capture sex education from elementary level to higher institutions.
Adopting the motion, Senate President, Dr Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan upheld the prayers, as well as the review of all relevant laws that would ensure capital punishment for offenders of child abuse.
Part of the payers sustained too was the training of the police and other security agents handling rape cases, while they also urged the public to serve as watchdogs against rape.
However, the Senate, yesterday, said that it was prepared to receive the list of ministerial nominees from the Presidency any time it was submitted.
The upper chamber also said that the apparent delay in the submission of the ministerial list by President Muhammadu Buhari would not prevent senators from embarking on their scheduled annual vacation.
The National Assembly is scheduled to commence its annual vacation at the end of July, 2019.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Adedayo Adeyeye, who addressed reporters in Abuja, yesterday, said that it was not the duty of the Senate to determine when the ministerial list would be submitted to it.
Adeyeye also said that the Senate was not constitutionally empowered to request for the list from the Presidency.
The Senate, he said, would wait until the president decides to send the list to it.
Adeyeye said: “That is the prerogative of the Executive. We are not going to help them to do their job. The Senate cannot generate the list of ministers on its own.
“It is the prerogative of the president to send his ministerial nominee list to the Senate and when he does that we will consider it.
“That is our constitutional mandate. It is not even within our powers to even advise. We will wait until the matter is transmitted to us.
“The executive are aware of the timetable of the Senate. There is a particular time the Senate will go on recess. That being in mind they should be mindful of when they will carry out this constitutional responsibility.
“That is our constitutional mandate but it is not within our power to even advise or anything, so we will wait until the list is submitted. I will not say anything more than that.
“I don’t think this matter should worry any Nigerian. We are supposed to receive the letter with the list of ministerial nominee transmitted to the Senate.
“If a thing is not my job, why should it worry me? When the list comes to us, Nigerians will look at the time the list arrives here and the time the list is approved.
“Let me tell you one thing, the executive are aware and most Nigerians are aware of the timetable of the Senate.
“There is a particular time of the year when the Senate will go on recess that being in mind, they should be mindful of when to carry out this constitutional responsibility because the Senate itself has its own timetable.
“Like the judiciary is right now on recess, a lot of judges have travelled out except those handling election matters.
“So, in the same way, there will be a time, very soon when the Senate will go in recess.
“I think the Executive are mindful of this to know the timetable of the Senate and it is left to them to adjust to that timetable or not.
“When the matter comes before us, we will look at it and carry out our constitutional responsibility.”
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has sought the confirmation of the Senate for the appointment of Prof Habu Galadima as the substantive Director General of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos.
The President of the Senate, Dr Ahmed Lawan read the letter from the President to his colleagues at the plenary, yesterday.
Buhari said his correspondence dated July 9, was backed by Section 8 (5) of the NIPSS Act, which empowers him to forward the name of nominees for the office to Senate for confirmation.
He appealed to the lawmakers to give necessary support that would ensure smooth screening and confirmation of Galadima.
The President noted that he attached a copy of the nominee’s curriculum vitae to the letter to further enable the Senate to have more information about him.
It would be recalled that Galadima was born in 1963 at Toto Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
In a similar letter read by the President of the Senate, Buhari also requested the Senate to confirm the appointment of Mr Uba Maska as Executive Director of the National Communication Commission (NCC).
Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.
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