Confab proposes shutdown of Government against budget passage timelines

ABUJA (National Conference News) – The National Conference sitting in Abuja has recently resolved that henceforth, where the President or National Assembly fails to meet the timelines for passage of the Appropriation Bill, government will have to shut down operations.
 
The conference also agreed that Section 82 of the 1999 Constitution which deals with authorization of expenditure in default of appropriation is to be amended to stop any expenditure by government in the event of delay in the passage of the budget with established timeline. The delegates also completed debate and adopted the resolutions on the Report of the Committee on Public Service headed by Ebele Okeke as chairman and Adamu Aliyu as deputy chairman. They observed that where the National Assembly fails to consider and pass the Appropriation Bill within the stated time frame, the bill shall be sent to the President for his/her assent. Adding, the amendment to Section 147(3) of the 1999 Constitution which demands appointment by the President of at least one Minister from each State of the federation was approved.
 
The report from the National Conference Secretariat stated that the delegates objected to the proposal that 40% of the Ministers appointed by the President under the said section should be female. “The Committee recommended that since the minimum wage is fixed at a level just above the poverty line, it is the duty of the Federal Government to ensure that the pay of every Nigerian is above the poverty line and labour matters should be retained in the Exclusive Legislative,” it said.
 
According to the report, the Conference also resolved that henceforth, no agency of government should charge any fee, no matter how minimal from fresh graduates before offering them employment in the public service.  A recommendation by the Committee that a new sub-section be introduced in the 1999 Constitution to compel government to review public sector pay every five years to take cognizance of trends in the cost of living was also approved by the Conference and adopted.
 
Following a motion by 33 delegates moved by Nurudeen Lemu, the Conference resolved that the Federal Character Commission be renamed the Federal Character and Equal Opportunities Commission to put it in better stead to address issues of affirmative action for people living with disabilities.
 
In another development, the Committee on Science, Technology and Development said that for effective contribution and synergy in the science and technology sector and to ensure continuity and seriousness of purpose, the Presidential Council on Science, Technology and Innovation should be enshrined in the 1999 Constitution. According to the Committee, activities considered non-essential normally suffer during budget allocation exercises, particularly in lean times, believing that research and development budget have suffered more than others.
 
The Committee further suggested that government funding of science and technology development programmes should be upgraded to 2% of the Federation Account, while State Governments should contribute to research by way of research projects and make it mandatory for every industry to establish research units, contribute money to the Science and Technology Development Trust Fund and give scholarships to individuals and institutions to carry out research.
 
It called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on the revitalization of vital infrastructure considered critical and strategic to the manufacturing sector. These include: power generation, transmission and distribution; steel industries and machine tools as well as the National Metallurgical Development Centre among others. The Committee observed that Nigeria is yet to implement the African Union resolution that a minimum of one per cent GDP of nations should be dedicated to research and development purposes. It called for increased campaign to create public awareness in science and technology and their vital role in national development through all possible means, including the media, research and development.
 
The Committee headed by Daniel Maddo as chairman and Raymond Dokpesi as deputy said that since the high volume of applicable output of research and development activities in Nigeria have failed to address socio-economic development issues, there must be a deliberate strategy to reverse the situation. To ensure rapid science and technology growth, the committee recommended the promotion of academic industry linkage programmes to enhance knowledge sharing through mandatory exposure of academics to industry in the design of programmes in educational institutions.

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Confab proposes shutdown of Government against budget passage timelines