Reps Panel recommends Immunity, Life Pension For Senate President, Speaker, Others

• The House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review has proposed immunity and life pension for Senate President, House of Representatives Speaker and heads of the judiciary.

• The proposal is contained in the constitution amendment bill presented on Wednesday by Rep. Ahmed Wase, Chairman, Constitution Review Committee.

EKO HOT BLOG reports that Rep. Benjamin Kalu, House spokesperson, told newsmen that since the executive was enjoying immunity, the legislature and the judiciary should also benefit.

The legislature is also seeking to be part of Nigeria’s security council.

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Rep. Segun Odebunmi (APC-Oyo) sponsored the Act to alter section 308 of the constitution “to extend immunity to cover presiding officers of the legislative institutions.”

The committee earlier stepped down the bill during the meeting between the committee and consultants.

Several lawmakers in the Green Chamber spoke against the bill during the meeting.
Abdulhamid Mohammed (SAN), one of the consultants working with the committee, opposed the immunity clause.

The lawyer said globally, it was unconventional for judicial officers and presiding officers to have immunity.
Mohammed warned of a conflict of interest if immunity was extended to judicial officers
“You are now going to apply before the judicial officers because these are courts of competent jurisdiction”, he said.

The Assembly is also pushing to grant life pension for its presiding officers.

These include the Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Deputy Speaker.

The proposal also seek to add the principal officers of the National Assembly to this list.

It was learnt that the current leadership of the National Assembly, comprising the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; and their deputies may be the first to benefit.

Recommendation 16 reads, “That the House does receive the report of the Special Ad-hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution on a Bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Provide Pension for Presiding Officers of the National Assembly; and for Related Matters.”

When the proposal was first raised during the Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara-led 8th Assembly, it was rejected by Nigerians and some notable civil rights groups, such as the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), who had described it as self-serving and despicable.

The National Assembly’s Joint Special Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution disclosed this on Wednesday.

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