After scaling the third reading, a legislation banning same sex marriage finally got the endorsement of the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
The Senate had earlier passed a similar legislation, implying that barring any need for a conference committee of both arms of the National Assembly, a harmonised copy of the bill would soon be presented to the President, Goodluck Jonathan for his assent.
The bill which was debated on May 30 by the lawmakers who were favourably disposed to it prescribes a stiff jail term ranging from 10 to 14 years for anybody that indulges or abets the committal of the act which is fast gaining currency in European countries.The decision followed the consideration of the legislation entitled "A Bill for an Act to prohibit marriage or civil union entered between persons of same sex, solemnization of same and for other matters related therewith" during proceedings of the House presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha.
With the passage of the bill, only marriage contract between a man and a woman is recognised as valid in Nigeria just as no marriage certificate issued to parties of same sex marriage or civil union in Nigeria shall be valid.
Under the newly passed legislation, the registration of gay clubs, societies and organisations, their sustenance, processions and meetings have been prohibited while public show of same sex amorous relationship directly or indirectly is prohibited.On the offences and penalties which fall under the jurisdictions of the high court of a state or of the federal capital territory, the legislation prescribes that persons who entered into same gender marriage or civil union contract commit an offence and are jointly liable on conviction to a term of 14 years imprisonment each.
It further prescribes that any person who registers, operates or participates in gay clubs, societies and organisations, or directly or indirectly makes a public show of same sex amorous relationship commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a term of 10 years imprisonment.The legislation also prescribes that any person or group of persons that witnesses, abets, screens, shields and aids the solemnisation of a same sex marriage contract or civil union or supports the registration of gay clubs, societies and organisations, processions or meetings in Nigeria commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a term of 10 years imprisonment.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Zakari Mohammed, justified the legislation, saying it was in line with the custom and tradition of Nigerians."I am sure if we practise same sex marriages, all of us that are here wouldn't have been here today. For us, we are a country that have tradition and culture. As representatives of the people, we have spoken the minds of Nigerians and we must not miss this. The mosques, churches and several interest organisations have taken position on this and the House did what our people want. We can't legalise it. Even in the holy books, we are told that a whole generation was wiped out because of this issue of same sex. So why go back to that?"On the national budget, the House hit back at the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, saying it could not be blackmailed to rescind its stand on the implementation of the 2013 Appropriation Act.
The lawmakers directed the minister to prevail on her colleagues in the executive arm to implement the 2013 budget instead of dissipating her energies on the passage of the budget amendment bill which was re-presented by Jonathan to the National Assembly last week.
They also ordered her to appear before the House Committees on Appropriation, Finance and Legislative Compliance to clarify her position on the implementation of the budget which is pitting the executive and legislative arms against each other.The lawmakers were reacting to the finance minister who was quoted by a section of the media as saying that the nation's economy could be shut down by September if the National Assembly fails to pass the 2013 budget Amendment Bill.
The House condemned what it described as brazen theft of Nigeria's crude oil. It urged Jonathan to immediately overhaul the operations of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta area for the purpose of carrying out a more proactive security check of all oil installations in the country.
It also mandated its committee to investigate the allegations made by the Director General of Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Patrick Akpobolekemi, of the involvement of influential people in oil theft and the fact that his organisation has seized ships belonging to the oil thieves and report back to the House within two weeks.The House session yesterday moved to investigate the Amendment of the Armed Forces Act through the revision of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 2004 following the adoption of a motion introduced by Ibrahim El-Sudi on the need for the chamber to probe the alleged alteration without recourse to the National Assembly.
The parliament noted that Section 4(1) of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 vested the legislative powers of the federation in the National Assembly, inter alia: "The Legislative Powers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be vested in the National Assembly for the Federation which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives".It said that Section 18(1) of the Armed Forces Act as contained in CAP. A20 LFN 2004, published in June, 2004 states that: "The President may after consultation with the Chief of Defence Staff and subject to confirmation by the National Assembly, appoint such officers (in this Act referred to as the Service Chiefs) as he thinks fit, in whom the command of the Army, Navy and Air Force, as the case may be, and their reserves shall be vested."
But the House said that in the revised edition of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 published in 2011, the Armed Forces Act CAP. A20 was amended, in Section 18(1) as follows: "The President, may, after consultation with the Minister of Defence appoint such Officers (in this Act referred to as "the Service Chiefs") as he thinks fit, in whom the command of the Army, Navy and Air Force, as the case may be, and their Reserves shall be vested".It further expressed worry, pointing out: "This amendment of the Armed Forces Act removing the powers of confirmation by the National Assembly was effected by the Law Revision Committee without resort to the National Assembly" and added that there "are also certain typographical and avoidable errors in this edition of the Laws of the Federation."Consequently, Ihedioha mandated the Committee on Justice to investigate "this usurpation of the Constitutional Powers of the National Assembly" and report back to it in four weeks."
Besides, Jonathan has asked the National Assembly to restore N72 billion deducted from various capital projects in the 2013 budget.
In a letter read to senators by Senate President David Mark yesterday, the President listed various projects in the Works, Health, Power, Transport, and Education sectors which he described as critical and very important that had been tampered with by the National Assembly.
He listed Abuja-Lokoja road which was reduced by N4 billion; Kano-Maiduguri road reduced by N3.5 billion; dualisation of Ibadan-Ilorin section 2 reduced by N5.5 billion; rehabilitation of Jebba bridge reduced by N1.25 billion among other projects.The President noted that a total of N16.3 billion was cut from power project including the 215MW Kaduna Dual Fired Power plant reduced by N2.25 billion.Other critical sectors Jonathan mentioned in his letter where critical capital projects were tampered with included the transport sector where Abuja-Kaduna rail budget was reduced by N1.4 billion; Jebba-Kano rail line reduced by N0.5 billion and procurement and rehabilitation of wagons/locomotives reduced by N1 billion.Other sectors included Ministry of Health where MDG HIV/AIDS ARV drugs allocation was reduced by N1billion; routine immunization vaccines reduced by N1.75 billion; malaria procurement and distribution of insecticides reduced by N0.8 billion.
For capital projects in the education sector, Jonathan noted that allocations "to various projects were reduced to the tune of N5.64 billion including the National Library project which was cut by N2 billion".
On the Subsidy Re-Investment Programme (SURE-P.) Jonathan said: "Against our proposal of N27 billion, the National Assembly allocated N9.8 billion. This cut will have the adverse effect of severely undermining our capacity to create the jobs needed for our teeming unemployed youths, women and physically challenged citizens".
When asked for the justification for the reduction in capital projects, spokesman to the Senate, Senator Ehinnaya Abaribe said it was within the powers of the National Assembly to do so.
He said: "It has become a philosophical debate anytime we consider the budget. The facts are that when a budget is submitted before the National Assembly, the constitution empowers us to tamper with the figures and unless they want to turn the National Assembly to rubber stamp, the National Assembly has not done anything out of the ordinary."Asked when the amendment would be considered by the federal lawmakers, Abaribe, holding up the three big volumes of the amendment reacted: "Coming to bring amendments that are more than the original budget, the Presidency must not expect us to consider these within the short time we have.
"There is no way the National Assembly can consider the amendments within the short time we have before we go for our annual vacation. We need time to study the differences in the figures and we cannot do all these till when we come back from our vacation."Besides, the Senate yesterday cautioned Okonjo-Iweala not to pit the National Assembly against Jonathan over the amendment to the 2013 budget.
Abaribe cautioned ministers and government appointees against what he termed inflammatory statements that would put the presidency on collusion course with the lawmakers.
He said: "When a comment is made to say government will shut down because of the amendments was reckless. What we got was a document that was larger than the budget we passed."
source: nigerianeye
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