A Bill for an Act to provide for the procedure and ceremony for transition and assumption of office for the President and Vice President- elect passed second reading at the House of Representatives, yesterday.
Rep. Kpam Sokpo (PDP-Benue), who sponsored the bill, said it was aimed at  ensuring smooth transition from one administration to another.
He added that the bill would help to facilitate smooth handover between outgoing President and Vice President to the incoming President and Vice President.
Rep. Tobi Okechwukwu, the Deputy Minority Leader, while contributing, said the bill would tackle lack of precision on transition programme.
He said that the transition period was a time when cabinet members that would form the new government must have been selected to keep the country on the move.
He said that the period of transition should have afforded the President-elect to do some research that would help in the smooth running of the new administration.
The deputy minority leader stressed that the transition period should not be a time for watching the body language of the President on the direction of his administration.
“This bill is important, because we lost about six months in 2015 because the cabinet of the President was not constituted and the same thing happened in 2019.
“This should be a country of rules and law and the law must be seen to have been obeyed,” he said.
He said that the situation was the same at the state level, where state governors after winning election for six months failed to constitute their cabinets.
The lawmakers, thereafter voted unanimously in favour of the bill scaling second reading.
Similarly, a bill for an Act to repeal the Fire Service Act 2004 and enact the Fire and Emergency Service Act 2021 has  passed second reading in the House of Representatives.
This bill which sought to introduce stricter penalties for violation of building codes,  fire regulations and other related matters was sponsored by Rep. Adejoro Adeogun (APC-Ondo) .
Leading the debate at plenary yesterday, Adeogun said the bill also seeks to provide the agency with additional powers for effective service delivery and for other related matters.
The lawmaker said that the bill also sought  the expansion of responsibilities of the service to meet international best practices and the growing demands of citizens.
He recalled that the Fire Service Act (1963) saddled the service with the responsibility of mitigating fire disasters and combating fire emergencies.
According to him, this narrow scope of responsibility precludes non fire disasters such as flooding, building collapse, air and road accidents.
The lawmaker said that other natural disasters that might or might not be accompanied by fire but emergency rescue was  required.
“This bill addresses this gap by expanding the scope of responsibilities of the fire service to include fire and non-fire related emergencies such as flooding, building collapse, construction site accidents, mining collapse and related land, sea and air accidents.
“This bill also seeks to introduce stricter penalties for violation of building codes, fire regulations, impersonation of fire service personnel and unlawful disclosure of privileged information obtained in the course of emergencies,’’ he said.
Adeogun who represents Akoko South East/South West Federal Constituency of Ondo State said  the aim was to prevent and mitigate all fire disasters as well as other accidents.
He said the bill would encourage investment in fire and emergency equipment by states, local g areas  and corporate organisations to improve response to emergencies.
The legislator said he bill would  empower the fire and emergency service chief to mobilise resources for the training, equipping and deployment of fire and emergency personnel for prompt response to emergencies.
The rep said that the bill provided for the establishment of a Fire and Emergency Service Reward Fund to reward fire and emergency fire officers.
“The major achievements of this amendment bill if passed,  will be to build the capacity of the fire and emergency service to respond to disasters with greater synergy and efficiency.
“It will also elevate the fire and emergency service from the back-end to the frontline of disaster management.
“The bill will also open new frontiers for the creation of jobs through engagement of able bodied youths into the fire and emergency service,’’ he said.
Adeogun said that Nigeria had in the past,  lost lives and billion dollar assets to fire, flood and similar disasters.
He said the bill hoped to lay the foundation for mitigating of future disasters and saving the nation from avoidable loss of lives and resources.
The parliamentarian urged his colleagues to support the bill to go through second reading and its eventual passage into law.
In his ruling, the Deputy Speaker of the house, Rep. Ahmed Wase (APC-Plateau) referred the bill to relevant committees of the house for further legislative actions.