The House of Representatives has passed the process and service for transition and assumption of the Office of the President, also Vice-President-elect for second reading.
The bill, which is sponsored by Hon. Kpam Sokpo, attempts to provide for the process and service for transition and assumption of the Office of the President, and Vice-President-elect, and to facilitate the handover process by the outgoing president and vice-president.
Leading the argument, Sokpo stated in the Section 1 of this invoice of the Transition and Assumption of Office Committee will be established and would be known as’The Committee’.
Other members of this committee are the Chief of Defence Staff; the National Security Adviser; the Inspector-General of Police; the Chief of Staff to the President; the Deputy Clerk to the National Assembly; the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, along with six persons nominated from the president-elect representing both geo-political zones of Nigeria.
The lawmaker added that the quorum for the conduct of the company in a meeting of this Committee shall be two-third of all the members of this committee.
Sokpo added that the chairman of The Committee shall convene the meetings of the committee prescribed under the bill, while the Permanent Secretary, Office of the SGF will be the Secretary to The Committee.
He noted that the committee would be saddled with the responsibility of easing the handover process by the outgoing president and vice-president to the president-elect and vice-president-elect.
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Sokpo worried that the committee would also organise the security of their president-elect and Vice-President-elect, amongst others.
According to him,”There’s based Transition and Assumption of Office Fund for the government of the committee into which will be paid such amounts as shall be appropriated by the National Assembly for the purpose of transition and assumption of office in a presidential election year.”
The lawmaker noted that under Part II of the bill, upon the declaration of the final results of a presidential election from the Independent National Election Commission (INEC), the committee shall make sure that the president-elect and vice-president-elect are provided sufficient security.
Sokpo explained further that The Committee shall ensure that the president-elect and vice-president-elect receives security briefings from the applicable national safety agencies.
He said the president-elect and vice-president-elect shall, in conjunction with all The Committee, execute such preparations as may be necessary for the purpose of assuming office.
In his submission, the Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Toby Okechukwu, stated the bill is extremely important as it plans to cure the illness of discretion.
He added that the transition period is a time where the country gets vulnerable, saying it is not a time to be watching the body language of anybody.
Toby noted another reason why the bill is important is to avoid a situation in which the nation loses opportunities due to the inability to form cupboard for almost a year as it was seen in 2015.
