From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives has introduced a bill to repeal the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Amendment Act 2007 and disband the agency.
The bill sponsored by Shina Peller, an All Progressives Congress ( APC) member from Oyo State, proposes that after the disbandment, assets and personnel of the security outfit would be transferred to the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
The proposed legislation also seeks the establishment of a transition management committee to superintend over the winding up of NSCDC as well as develop regulations and implement procedures for the transfer of its assets and personnel to the police.
According to the synopsis of the bill, the continued existence of the NSCDC as a distinct security organisation amounts to a waste of scarce resources. Peller said the “fragmentation of security resources across multiple competing agencies is counterproductive.
“The mandate of the NSCDC has expanded that it has now become a duplication of the Nigeria Police Force. This has led to avoidable conflicts. Every single function of the NSCDC can be done or is being done by the Nigeria Police Force. The assets and personnel of the NSCDC will be absorbed by the Nigeria Police. So, there will be no loss of job.”
Meanwhile, NSCDC has withdrawn all officers attached to Peller.
The directive was contained in a letter dated February 02, 2021, addressed to the lawmaker from the Oyo State Command of the NSCDC.
“Following the directive of the Commandant General on the necessity of the deployment of the Command personnel for an urgent National security assignment. On behalf of the State Commandant, I hereby withdraw the personnel attached to you, this is to meet up with the urgent national need,” the letter signed by Sotiyo Ighalawole read.
Also, the House has passed for second reading a bill proposing a 20-year jail term for employees of banks found guilty of fraudulent activities.
The bill sponsored by Francis Waive is seeking to amend the Bank Employees etc (Declaration of Assets) Act.
Waive, while leading the debate on the bill, said the proposed legislation, apart from increasing the jail term for fraudulent bank staff from 10 to 20 years, also made it mandatory for banks to update the data of their employees on yearly basis.
“We know the challenge today in our country with internet fraud and banking, the amendment of this bill is meant to achieve two things: First is to ensure that banks do have up to date data yearly on their staff, such that when there is infraction, it is easy to trace the staff who is involved. We are in days when bank fraud has increased with Yahoo Yahoo business that the young people are doing.
“More importantly, it is to increase the punishment for bank staff who are involved in fraudulent activities in customers accounts. The aim here is to increase punishment up to 20 years in imprisonment to serve as a deterrent; so that this upsurge we are seeing today in fraudulent activities in bank accounts is brought to minimum or eliminated completely,” the lawmaker said.
Lawmakers who contributed to the debate noted that the relationship between staff of commercial banks and customers is based on trust. Regardless, the argued that often times, the trust is abused by bank staff with impunity, without much sanctions.