HB 176: Federal Character Commission Act (Amendment) Bill, 2015

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infograph

Sponsor:

Hon. Peter Ohiozojeh Akpatason

State: EDO
Party: ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS

Bill Status: Awaiting Committee Report

  • First Reading: 02/12/2015
  • Second Reading: 26/04/2016
  • Committee Referred To: Committee on Federal Character
  • Consolidated with:Consolidated with HB 53, 272 & 338
  • Date Reported out of Committee:
  • Third Reading:
  • Reconsidered and Passed:

Bill Analysis:

SHORT TITLE

Federal Character Commission Act (Amendment) Bill, 2015

OBJECTIVE

The Bill seeks to provide for a more comprehensive guideline and procedure for recruitment in order to ensure transparency

SIMILAR BILLS

There are 3 other Bills that have been consolidated with this Bill, namely –

Federal Character Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (HB 338) sponsored by Hon. Edward G. Pwajok; Federal Character Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2015 (HB 53) sponsored by Hon Musa Sarkin Adar; and Federal Character Commission (Amendment) Bill 2015 (HB 272) sponsored by Hon. Ahmed Idris. However, each Bill is proposing a different amendment to the principal Act.

AMENDMENTS PROPOSED BY THE BILL

Federal Character Commission Act, 2004 (Principal Act)
 
Federal Character Commission Act (Amendment) Bill 2015 sponsored by Hon. Akpatason Ohiozojeh Peter
 
Section 4 (1)(g) –

“to ensure that all Ministries and Extra‐Ministerial Departments, agencies and other bodies affected by this Act have a clear criteria indicating conditions to be fulfilled and comprehensive guidelines on the procedure for‐

(i) determining eligibility and the procedure for employment in the public and private sectors of the economy

(ii) the provision of social services, goods and socio‐economic amenities in Nigeria; “

 

Clause 2 of the Bill seeks to amend Section 4(1) of the Principal Act by deleting subsection (g).

Clause 2 proposes to add new subsections (5), (6) & (7) immediately after subsection (4) as follows –

(5) “the Commission shall ensure that all Ministries, Extra-Ministerial Department, Agencies and other bodies affected by this Act have clear criteria, comprehensive guidelines and procedures for determining eligibility and procedure for recruitment”

(6) “the criteria and procedure for recruitment shall include –

(a) all MDAs shall compile all existing vacancies and submit same to the appropriate commission;

(b) to advertise the declared vacancies in at least two National Daily Newspapers and the Organization website;

(c) to paste the existing vacancies in conspicuous places in the relevant establishment at least two months before the recruitment exercise;

(d) to prevent replacement as a means of recruitment, except where it requires urgent services of scarce skilled professionals, which must not exceed 10 in any particular year in an organization;

(e) to ensure that recruitment is based strictly on merit and in line with the provisions of this Bill (when it becomes law);

(f) eradication of all forms of recruitment racketeering.

(7) A person who contravenes this provisions of subsection (6) of this section commits an offence and is liable on conviction:

(a) in a case of individual, to a fine of N500,000 or a prison term not less than 2 years;

(b) in the case of a body corporate, to a fine not less than N5,000,000 or a prison term of two years for the approving officer or both

CONCLUSION ISSUES

This Bill seeks to provide for a more comprehensive guideline and procedure for recruitment on order to ensure transparency. This Bill also provides for penalties for person(s) or entity(ies) that contravene any of the provisions. It has however been consolidated with 3 other Bills before the House of Representatives (see list above). This analysis focuses on the Bill before the consolidation.

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