Reps move to pass bills on overlapping security agencies’ roles

The House of Representatives will list seven bills bordering on security for second reading before it embarks on its annual vacation on Thursday.

The chairman of the House Committee on Legislative Agenda Monitoring and Implementation, Rep. Henry Nwawuba, confirmed this to reporters Sunday.

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The bills are the Armed Forces Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Police Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the National Security and Civil Defence Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Customs and Excise Management Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons.

Others are the Ammunition and Other Related Materials (Ratification and Enforcement) Bill, 2021; the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

Nwawuba said: “Chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business, Rep. Abubakar Fulata has given me his words that the Bills would be listed for second reading. It is then up to us to pass the bills, which I am very optimistic would not be a problem”.

He said the House, in its bid to reposition the security architecture of the Nigerian security apparatus, had taken some steps by convening a national summit on security recently.

Daily Trust reports that chairmen and members of security-related committees in the House, in collaboration with the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) and the Konrad Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), just concluded a retreat in Lagos where the amendments to critical laws of all the identified security agencies were comprehensively debated.