The House of Representatives has raised an ad hoc committee to further scrutinise President Olu-segun Obasanjo’s Trade Un-ions Act amendment Bill, following the conclusion of debate at yesterday’s plenary, where the Bill scaled through the second reading stage.
Debate on the Bill was hurriedly adjourned on Tuesday after 14 lawmakers spoke in favour and nine against the legislation, leading to an uproar in the House.
At the resumed debate yesterday, six more legislators made presentations against, while leader of the House, Abdul Ningi, made a closing remark urging his colleagues to vote in favour of the proposal.
But the session was marred by protest from a member who alleged breach of procedure and violation of House’s Standing orders by the presiding deputy Speaker, Austin Opera.
Another set of legislators also protested what they said was intimidation by the national leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which stayed at the gallery throughout, apparently keeping close watch of the proceedings.
Opening the resumed debate yesterday, Mr Abdul Oroh said the Bill was a condemnable piece that has the tendencies of leading to dictatorship. “This Bill is a conspiracy to destroy the Nigerian labour movement in trying to perpetrate milita-rism. If we allow it to pass, let’s not be surprised if they move tanks to the National Assembly.”
In his submission, Dr Usman Bugaje, who said the Bill has two aspects – the text and the context -, accused its sponsors of trying to use the House as a play ground of settling scores.
“My worry is about the context,” he said, adding that, “we have an executive that has a particular style – a style of surprise. Consti-tutionally, we have powers to debate major policy changes. But what we see is an ambush, in military style….
“We are all aware of the running battle the executive has been having with labour. You can see the time the Bill came – after series of skirmishes a Bill appears…. This House shouldn’t allow itself to be a ground of settling scores…. I want to conclude by saying that this Bill is a wrong one, submitted at the wrong time for the wrong reasons,” Bugaje said.
When Opara called for a female lawmaker to make the list of those against the Bill, Datti Baba-Ahmed protested that order 9(10) was violated, as he had expected to be recognised. But the deputy Speaker retorted that Datti had used “unparliamentary” language. The House Whip, Abubakar Bawa Bwari said the lawmaker must apologise, though Opara overruled this.
In his closing remarks, Ningi said that during the debate, three areas of “reservation” had been identified in the Bill. They are the proscription of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), banning of strike and granting of powers of registering labour unions to a minister. He said these must be looked into if the Bill goes to a committee.
At 2.57 p.m., after a three-and-a-half hour debate, the House voted in favour of reading the Bill for the second time, with a deafening voice vote. Opara announced the refering of the Bill to an ad hoc committee that will be set up soon.
Those who were at the gallery during the proceedings included PDP national chairman, Audu Ogbeh; secretary, Vincent Ogbulafor; Bode George, Nze Ozichukwu, Iro Safana and pub-licity secretary, Inuwa Labaran.
Also, Obasanjo’s adviser on National Assembly Matters, Florence Ita-Giwa, was at the gallery, occasionally leaving her seat to peep into the chambers. All of them left immediately after the vote was taken.
An elated Ogbeh told journalists while walking out of the Assembly’s premises, that they were happy with the outcome of the proceedings. He denied allegations that they were at the gallery to intimidate the lawmakers.
“We just came to educate ourselves on the way the Assembly works and listen to their debate and we are quite happy with the way it went,” he said.
Ogbeh also said that the Bill has some loopholes, incl-uding the powers given to a minister to register unions, but that labour must be decentralised to conform with global trends. “Have you ever heard of any umbrella organisation anywhere in the world called the labour of the United Kingdom or the United States or Germany or France? Why should it be so here...? I have said also that there is no need for the min-ister to tell members (work-ers) where to go. That offends the principle of democracy.”
But deputy chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Farouk Aliyu and Dr Haruna Yerima, who stormed out of the chambers, alleged that Ogbeh and co had come to coerce PDP members to pass the Bill.
Aliyu alleged that PDP lawmakers who earlier Tuesday spoke against the Bill were threatened to jettison their stance or face sancti-ons. Yerima, on his part, alleged that the lawmakers had traded the Bill for their unpaid allowances.
Speaking to National Assembly correspondents after the session, chairman of the media committee, Abike Dabiri, who said that the ad hoc committee for the Labour Bill would be ready by today, explained that the panel will hold public hearings across the country.
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