|
|
Nigeria: Senate Divided On Financial Crimes Court
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Vanguard (Lagos)
15 May 2008
Posted to the web 15 May 2008
Emmanuel Aziken
A bill seeking to establish a specialised court to handle cases being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday received mixed reception in the Senate.
Also yesterday, senators while considering the FCT budget proposals for 2008 lamented what they said were deteriorating infrastructure in the Federal Capital just as the Senate Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin on behalf of the Senate hailed the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu on his 46th birthday last Monday.
The bill seeking to establish a specialised court to handle financial crimes was presented by Senator Simon Oduyoye (PDP, Osun Central).
While Senator Oduyoye noted that the specialised court would expedite the trial of suspects presently being prosecuted by the EFCC in federal high courts, some Senators at the session raised issues against the bill.
Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) the Senate deputy majority leader while giving his qualified support for the bill, however, regretted that the proposal for the panel of the proposed court to be made of three Judges was a violation of the Constitution.
Senator Umaru Dahiru, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Legal Matters noted that the Federal High Court with its wide jurisdiction could sufficiently deal with all issues proposed under the bill.
"We have a Federal High Court with unlimited jurisdiction and with so many Judges. All the jurisdiction has been conferred on the Federal High Court and so I don"t know what is going to be the fate of our Federal High Court,' he noted.
Senator Idris Umar (PDP, Gombe Central) also opposing the bill said:
"I don"t strongly feel that establishing another court called Financial Crimes Court may not be necessary and this is because of the reasons as advanced by my senior colleague and this is because the Constitution has already established the Federal High Court with very wide jurisdictions and indeed some exclusive.'
"I do feel that the best we can do is to establish more of the Federal High Court. I do feel that this bill is very, very unnecessary even though well intentioned."
Following the debate, the bill was advanced for further consideration at the Committee level.
The N69 billion FCT appropriation bill was presented by the Senate leader, Senator Teslim Folarin and seconded by Senator Abubakar Sodangi, the chairman of the Senate Committee on FCT.
Senator Folarin said that the bill proposed N15.8 billion for personnel cost, N9.7 billion for overhead expenses and N44 billion for capital expenditure.
But commenting on the proposals, Senator James Manager (PDP, Delta South) lamented the fate of infrastructure in the federal capital.
"I am worried about certain things happening in the FCT. The energy situation in the FCT is going down considerably. While we are developing the satellite towns, we should not allow that to affect the services in the city."
"While considering this budget, take a critical look at the energy issue in the FCT. This is the seat of government," Senator Manager said.
|
Also speaking, Senator Ahmad Lawan (ANPP, Yobe North) said: "On Primary education and health services management, efforts should be made to ensure that qualitative services are provided so that those who cannot afford private services will avail themselves of the public service."
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
