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NASS Okays June 12 Democracy Day …Declares Public Holiday …Ekweremadu Backs State Police

Published

7 years ago

May 17, 2019

The National Assembly has passed the amendment to the National Holiday Act to move Nigeria’s Democracy Day from May 29 to June 12.
The Senate at the plenary yesterday passed the amendment in concurrence with the House of Representatives which approved the new date earlier in December 2018.
The passage followed the adoption of a report by the Majority Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan, for the Senate to concur with the House.
The three clauses of the amendment bill were passed by the Committee of the Whole when the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the session, put them to voice vote.
The legislation is now billed for transmission to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.
Buhari had in June 2018 declared that the Democracy Day would henceforth hold on June 12 of every year.
The President made the declaration as the Federal Government honoured the acclaimed winner of the 1993 presidential election, the late Chief Moshood Abiola, with a posthumous conferment of the highest national award, Grand Commander of the Federal Republic, on him.
Buhari had also conferred on Abiola’s running mate in the election, Alhaji Babagana Kingibe and foremost human rights lawyer, the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, the Grand Commander of the Niger award, which is the second highest national honour.
In his remarks, the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, put the conference report to a voice vote and it was adopted by the lawmakers.
In the bill, which was passed by the House of Representatives on November 26, 2018, the current democracy date, which is May 29, was deleted and replaced with June 12.
On June 12,1993, presidential election was held and adjudged to be the freest in the country’s history.
However, the results were annulled by the then Head of State, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.
In the process, one of the presidential candidate who was reported to have polled most votes, Mr Moshood Abiola lost his life.
Our correspondent reports that 25 years after, President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018, announced that the nation’s Democracy Day would hold on June 12 of every year as against current arrangement where the ceremony holds on May 29.
The national assembly however needed to amend the public holiday act to give the directive a legal backing, to make it binding.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, yesterday, said that if the increasing rate of insecurity, banditry, kidnapping in the country must be nipped in the bud, there was the urgent need for President Muhammadu Buhari to throw his weight behind calls for state police.
Ekweremadu, who blamed the rising security challenges on unitary police system prescribed by the Constitution, stressed that the best option was not to jettison the decentralized policing, which ensured the security of the people and their property up to 1966, but to ensure that appropriate checks in terms of recruitment, appointment of police chiefs, control, logistics, funding, among others, were put in place, to guide against possible abuse by state governors as feared by some.
Speaking, yesterday, in Abuja at the opening of a two-day conference on the Implementation of Autonomy of State Legislature and State Judiciary, Ekweremadu, who hailed Buhari for assenting to the Constitution Alteration Bills on Financial Autonomy for States’ Legislature and States’ Judiciary, said: “Our Constitution contradicts, in several respects, the basic principles of democracy such as the separation of powers, checks and balances, and compromises the independence of the critical institutions of democracy.
“This is why the National Assembly has, starting from 2010, successfully altered the Constitution to strengthen the principles of separation of powers, checks and balance, and indeed our democracy and good governance by placing the National Assembly, INEC, and most recently, the State Houses of Assembly and Judiciary on first line charge”.
He, however, cautioned State Assemblies that the autonomy was not a license to appropriate whatever they liked to their respective Assemblies and States’ Judiciary, but recognition of the prioritisation of the release of their funds in the appropriation law of their respective states.
The Deputy Senate President, who described the local government as the weakest link in the governance structure, however, urged the State Assemblies to approve the Constitution Amendment Bills that seek to strengthen the councils as a third tier of government.
He suggested the establishment of a National Police Service Commission (NPSC) to exercise a level of oversight over the activities of the state police such as maintaining common facilities for all police services in the country, including training, criminal intelligence databases, forensic laboratories, among others.
Ekweremadu said, “The NPSC should also run a system of inspectorates and certification such as supervision of recruitment, training, supervision of standards, and annual certification of every state police service.
“There should also be a body known as State Police Service Commission for the states and should comprise a representative of the executive to be appointed by the Governor, representative of the Federal Government to be appointed by the NPSC, two independent experts in security matters to be appointed by the governor subject to confirmation by the State House of Assembly, and a representative each of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
“Others are a retired police officer not below the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police, representative of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), representative of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), and representatives of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and other relevant civil organizations, as the case may be. The body should be responsible for the recruitment, appointment and disciplining of the members of the state police force.
“Importantly, the funding of the state police should be a first line charge on the state account or it can be deducted at source from the Federation Account and paid to the Police Service Commission for onward disbursement to the respective State Police Service Commissions.
“There should be an Act of the National Assembly stipulating the type of arms that can be acquired by a sub-national police and also unacceptable conducts, which can lead to the sanction of a sub-national police command.”
On affordability, the deputy Senate President said that state police would not be compulsory as those who have the resources could establish one, while those who could not afford would continue to rely on the federal police until they were able to establish one.
He said, “The important thing is to lay down the legal frameworks that authorise and regulate decentralised policing so that those who can afford it can start, hence I urge Mr. President to lend his political will and weight to the quest for decentralised policing.”

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Fubara Dissolves Rivers Executive Council

Published

1 week ago

February 13, 2026

The Tide

Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminialayi Fubara, has dissolved the State Executive Council.

The governor announced the cabinet dissolution yesterday in a statement titled ‘Government Special Announcement’, signed by his new Chief Press Secretary, Onwuka Nzeshi.

Governor Fubara directed all Commissioners and Special Advisers to hand over to the Permanent Secretaries or the most Senior officers in their Ministries with immediate effect.

He thanked the outgoing members of the State Executive Council for their service and wished them the best in their future endeavours.

The three-paragraph special announcement read, “His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, GSSRS, Governor of Rivers State, has dissolved the State Executive Council.

“His Excellency, the Governor, has therefore directed all Commissioners and Special Advisers to hand over to the Permanent Secretaries or the most Senior officers in their Ministries with immediate effect.

“His Excellency further expresses his deepest appreciation to the outgoing members of the Executive Council wishing them the best in their future endeavours.”

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INEC Proposes N873.78bn For 2027 Elections, N171bn For 2026 Operations

Published

1 week ago

February 13, 2026

The Tide

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday told the National Assembly that it requires N873.78bn to conduct the 2027 general elections, even as it seeks N171bn to fund its operations in the 2026 fiscal year.

INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan, made the disclosure while presenting the commission’s 2026 budget proposal and the projected cost for the 2027 general elections before the National Assembly Joint Committee on Electoral Matters in Abuja.

According to Amupitan, the N873.78bn election budget covers the full conduct of national polls in 2027.

An additional N171bn is needed to support INEC’s routine activities in 2026, including bye-elections and off-season elections, the commission stated.

The INEC boss said the proposed election budget does not include a fresh request from the National Youth Service Corps seeking increased allowances for corps members engaged as ad-hoc staff during elections.

He explained that, although the details of specific line items were not exhaustively presented, the almost N1tn election budget is structured across five major components.

“N379.75bn is for operational costs, N92.32bn for administrative costs, N209.21bn for technological costs, N154.91bn for election capital costs and N42.61bn for miscellaneous expenses,” Amupitan said.

The INEC chief noted that the budget was prepared “in line with Section 3(3) of the Electoral Act 2022, which mandates the Commission to prepare its election budget at least one year before the general election.”

On the 2026 fiscal year, Amupitan disclosed that the Ministry of Finance provided an envelope of N140bn, stressing, however, that “INEC is proposing a total expenditure of N171bn.”

The breakdown includes N109bn for personnel costs, N18.7bn for overheads, N42.63bn for election-related activities and N1.4bn for capital expenditure.

He argued that the envelope budgeting system is not suitable for the Commission’s operations, noting that INEC’s activities often require urgent and flexible funding.

Amupitan also identified the lack of a dedicated communications network as a major operational challenge, adding that if the commission develops its own network infrastructure, Nigerians would be in a better position to hold it accountable for any technical glitches.

Speaking at the session, Senator Adams Oshiomhole (APC, Edo North) said external agencies should not dictate the budgeting framework for INEC, given the unique and sensitive nature of its mandate.

He advocated that the envelope budgeting model should be set aside.

He urged the National Assembly to work with INEC’s financial proposal to avoid future instances of possible underfunding.

In the same vein, a member of the House of Representatives from Edo State, Billy Osawaru, called for INEC’s budget to be placed on first-line charge as provided in the Constitution, with funds released in full and on time to enable the Commission to plan early enough for the 2027 general election.

The Joint Committee approved a motion recommending the one-time release of the Commission’s annual budget.

The committee also said it would consider the NYSC’s request for about N32bn to increase allowances for corps members to N125,000 each when engaged for election duties.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Simon Along, assured that the National Assembly would work closely with the Commission to ensure it receives the necessary support for the successful conduct of the 2027 general elections.

Similarly, the Chairman of the House Committee on Electoral Matters, Bayo Balogun, also pledged legislative support, warning INEC to be careful about promises it might be unable to keep.

He recalled that during the 2023 general election, INEC made strong assurances about uploading results to the INEC Result Viewing portal, creating the impression that results could be monitored in real time.

“iREV was not even in the Electoral Act; it was only in INEC regulations. So, be careful how you make promises,” Balogun warned.

The N873.78bn proposed by INEC for next year’s general election is a significant increase from the N313.4bn released to the Commission by the Federal Government for the conduct of the 2023 general election.

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Tinubu Mourns Literary Icon, Biodun Jeyifo

Published

1 week ago

February 13, 2026

The Tide

President Bola Tinubu yesterday expressed grief over the death of a former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities and one of Africa’s foremost literary scholars, Professor Emeritus Biodun Jeyifo.

Jeyifo passed away on Wednesday, drawing tributes from across Nigeria and the global academic community.

In a condolence message to the family, friends, and associates of the late scholar, Tinubu in a statement by his spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, described Jeyifo as a towering intellectual whose contributions to African literature, postcolonial studies, and cultural theory left an enduring legacy.

He noted that the late professor would be sorely missed for his incisive criticism and masterful interpretations of the works of Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka.

The President also recalled Jeyifo’s leadership of ASUU, praising the temperance, foresight, and wisdom he brought to the union over the years.

Tinubu said Jeyifo played a key role in shaping negotiation frameworks with the government aimed at improving working conditions for university staff and enhancing the learning environment in Nigerian universities.

According to the President, Professor Jeyifo’s longstanding advocacy for academic freedom and social justice will continue to inspire generations.

He added that the late scholar’s influence extended beyond academia into political and cultural journalism, where he served as a mentor to numerous scholars, writers, and activists.

Tinubu condoled with ASUU, the Nigerian Academy of Letters, the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, the University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University, Oberlin University, Cornell University, and Harvard University—institutions where Jeyifo studied, taught, or made significant scholarly contributions.

“Nigeria and the global academic community have lost a towering figure and outstanding global citizen,” the President said.

“Professor Biodun Jeyifo was an intellectual giant who dedicated his entire life to knowledge production and the promotion of human dignity. I share a strong personal relationship with him. His contributions to literary and cultural advancement and to society at large will be missed.”

Jeyifo was widely regarded as one of Africa’s most influential literary critics and public intellectuals. Among several honours, he received the prestigious W.E.B. Du Bois Medal in 2019.