A bill to ‘protect’ treasury looters?
It was flabbergasting to hear that a bill which seeks to ‘protect’ those who delivered Nigeria into its present state of woes has passed first reading on the floor of the House of Representatives. The bill which is titled ‘Economic Amnesty’ was introduced and read for the first time on the floor of the House […]
It was flabbergasting to hear that a bill which seeks to ‘protect’ those who delivered Nigeria into its present state of woes has passed first reading on the floor of the House of Representatives. The bill which is titled ‘Economic Amnesty’ was introduced and read for the first time on the floor of the House on June 14, 2017.
Section 4 of the draft bill provides for a 30 percent tax and additional surcharge of 25 percent of such tax. While the proposed tax would be remitted to the federation account for distribution to all tiers of government, the surcharge is to be remitted directly to specific agencies towards agricultural and infrastructural development. The bill proposes an implementation period of three years which could be extended by the federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) if it so wishes.
Sponsor of the bill, Linus Okorie (PDP, Ebonyi) said the bill “seeks to allow all Nigerians and residents who have any money or assets outside the system or have acquired such money or assets illegally to come forward within a set time frame to declare same; pay tax/surcharge and compulsorily invest the funds in any sector of the Nigerian economy; and be granted full amnesty from inquiry or prosecution”. The draft law, according to the sponsor, covers all assets whether held in Nigeria or outside the country. More staggering is the provision in the bill that such looters as defined by it shall not be compelled by any authority to disclose the source of their looted funds.
I still find it difficult to understand the general principles of this needless bill. Many un-answered questions have refused to vacate my thought. Is the bill out to strengthen or weaken the main thrust of the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration which is total fight against corruption? Is the proposed law intended to discredit or glorify public treasury looters? Has the nation beingoverwhelmed by the huge and tempting influence of corruption and corrupt persons as to sacrifice itsconscience and allow criminals to holdsway? Is the country’s bad economy a reason good enough to justify tax/surcharges that seek to ridicule our common sense? Is the bill an attempt to overwrite the Nigerian constitution?
The proposed law only seeks to provide looters, after fulfilling certain conditions, with an escape route from any form of probe or prosecution. Besides glorifying looters, the bill in the opinion of this writer, is equal in effect to humiliating the country’s constitution which has all the provisions to cater for the law-abiding and take care of criminals and the criminally-minded. A bill that provides for looters not to disclose their source of wealth actually seeks to protect them and their stolen funds or assets. If a person could steal as much as he likes and declare as little as he wishes, economic amnesty is simply thus an attempt to legitimize and institutionalize the looting of public treasury in Nigeria.
Self-serving and dishonest Nigerians (in government and out of it) who looted public treasury and assets especially between 2000 and 2015 would for a long time be remembered as the worst group that contributed more strangely but wickedly than any other fraudulent set to the country’s chequered economic history. Yet, those who were elected as ‘honourable’ lawmakers to further the cause of good governance and protect the common interest of Nigerians have sadly chosen to betray this mandate. Rather, they have amazingly decided to draft a law to serve the interest of Nigerians’ worst enemies who, because of the devastating consequencesof their financial crimes, do not deserve anycomplimentary mention at a place as important as the chambers of the national assembly.
Funds that should have been used to provide essential teaching and learning facilities including well equipped laboratories and up-to-date library materials at all levels of the country’s education system were looted. Monies that should have been used to build healthcare facilities and make healthcare delivery accessible to many Nigerians werebrazenly misappropriated. Resources that should have been used to develop the agricultural sector were diverted. Funds that should have been used to provide basic infrastructures including roads, clean drinking water and stable power supply were stolen. The effect of all these financial impunities include the orchestration of a ruined education sector; a failed healthcare delivery system; and a dilapidated state of public infrastructures and social services. It is therefore hard to believe, with this unfortunate situation at hand, that lawmakers in this same country, Nigeria, would be asking for economic amnesty in favour of those who brought the nation to the critical state we find it today.
The prolonged delays experienced in the handling of cases involving financial crimes byconventional courtsis also part of the problem. If trials are completed in reasonable period of time and convictions secured as prayed for by the prosecuting agency, the EFCC; the ‘economic amnesty’ bill wouldn’t have even come up because most of those who are campaigning for or supporting it would have been imprisoned. We urge government to consider creating special courts for the speedy dispensation of financial crimes.
As the bill awaits second reading, we encourage patriotic Nigerians among the lawmakers to kill it when it is tabled for debate. It would be recalled that soon after Senator Dino Melaye flew that first ‘amnesty kite’ for looters in 2016, a serialized opinion that was critical of the callwas published on this page on Saturday October 22, 2016 and Saturday October 29, 2016. While countering Senator Melaye’s call,Senator JerryUseni in an interview in 2016 urged President Buhari to apply stiffer measures for looters of public funds.
In the event that the bill is passed against the wishes of Nigerians, we urge President Muhammadu Buhari to withhold his assent to it. May Allah (SWT) guide us and our lawmakers to distinguish truth from falsehood; and to act in the collective interest and common good of Nigerians, amin.
Philosofaith
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