The House of Representatives yesterday resolved to investigate the circumstances surrounding the registration and issuance of Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs to under-aged voters in some parts of the country by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), describing it as unlawful and illegal which must be checkmated.
Consequently, it resolved at the plenary yesterday to set up an ad-hoc committee to carry out a comprehensive investigation into the matter and report back to the House within five weeks and urged the security agencies to provide maximum security for all INEC officials at their respective places of assignments to guard against any form of intimidation which the commission admitted prompted its officials to register the underaged voters in the first instance.
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion moved to that effect by Honourable. Johnbull Giemlong SheKarau titled , “call to investigate the registration and issuance of Permanent Voters Cards to under Aged Voters by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC”ý with an amendment from the duo of Hon Chukuka Onyema and Uzoma Abonta who sought for the setting up of an Ad-hoc Committee to carry out a comprehensive investigation into the matter.
Moving the motion, Hon. Johnbull Giemlong Shekarau said that” the Houseý Notes that Section 12 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2010 provides that a person shall be qualified to be registered as a voter if such a person has attained the age of eighteen years and the INEC is empowered to register and issue Permanent Voters’ Cards to eligible Nigerians.”
According to the lawmaker, “concerned about reports from the social, print and electronic media which indicated that there were incidences of underaged voters who presented themselves at polling units with Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) to vote in the recently conducted Local Government Elections in Kano State.
He added that the Director of Publicity and Voter Education at INEC, Oluwole Osaze Uzzi while responding to questions on the Africa Independent Television (AIT) on the matter on 15/02/2018, said that the underaged voters were registered because the lives of the registration officers were being threatened.
Hon Sekerau lamented that the incidence caused serious embarrassment to the nation and amounted to a threat to the nation’s growing democracy and a danger to the security of lives of officials posted to handle sensitive national issues such as registration of eligible voters.
He then moved that the House should mandate it’s Committee on Electoral and Political Matters to investigate the incidence and report back within five weeks for further legislative action.however while supporting the motion, the duo of Onyema and Abonta ý sought for an Ad-hoc Committee because of the magnitudes of the incidence and implication to the nation’s future electoral process.
Most of the lawmakers who contributed to the debate including E J Agbonayinma, Mohammed Umar Bago, Uzoma Abonta, Henry Achibong, among others condemned the act and demanded a decisive action from the lawmakers in the over the interest of the Nation.
When the motion was put into voice voting by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara who presided over the plenary, it was unanimously supported.
The House of Representatives yesterday, invited the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami over pension fund administration in the country.
Others also invited are Head of Service of the Federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.
The House also invited former Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on Pension, Abdulrasheed Maina former chairman, Presidential Pension Task on Pension Reforms.
Former Head of Service of the Federation, Steve Oransaye and all members of the defunct Presidential Taskforce on Pension is also to appear before the House.
The House Ad-hoc Committee investigating the activities of the Presidential Taskforce on Pension Reforms from 2010, to the time of its dissolution and successor agencies, issued the summon at its public hearing in Abuja.
Also to appear before the committee are the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, Chairman, Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Mr Ibrahim Magu and the chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC).
Speaking at the occasion, Mrs Sharon Ikpeazor, Executive Secretary of Pension Transition Administration Department (PTAD), told the committee that the agency reduced the police pension liabilities from N16.501 billion to N7 billion after reconciliation.
She also said that N90.652 million was being saved monthly from police pension while N1.4 billion liabilities were yet to be offset.
The PTAD boss also said that the agency which inherited 18,370 pensioners from the old pension scheme was able to eliminate 3,324 ghost pensioners as at May 2015.
Ikpeazor further disclosed that PTAD, in collaboration with ICPC, collapsed four pension accounts for ease of management and accountability with N15.025 billion domiciled in Zenith Bank.
She also said that N2.483 billion was domiciled in Union Bank while N720 million domiciled in UBA and N193.629 million domiciled in Access Bank as at Oct. 2013.
She said out of N26 billion Legacy Fund traced to insurance companies since N20.3 billion had so far been recovered.
According to her, N6.7 billion cash recovered has been domiciled with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) while properties worth N13.5 billion are being re-valued by Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing.
Ikpeazor, therefore, called for the interventions of the House to enable the agency go after the erring insurance companies withholding the Legacy Fund.
She said the agency had made the presentation to the Presidential Committee on Stolen Assets and would not hesitate to engage Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to recover the Legacy Fund.