Reps To Stop Spouses’ Assets Declaration

House of Representatives has passed through second reading a bill seeking to remove the provisions requiring public servants to declare the assets of their spouses to the Code of Conduct Bureau Act.

Sponsored by Hon. Tasir Olawale Raji from Lagos, the bill also seeks to delete section 23(7) of the Code of Conduct Act because it contravened the provisions of the Constitution which gives the president Power of Prerogative of Mercy.

Leading debate on the bill, Raji said, “… that person to whom this law applies is mandated to declare the assets of his spouse as stipulated in Act.

“In addition, such a person is also mandated to attest the correctness of the information provided before a High Court Judge.”

He argued that anybody who declares the assets of the spouse can be liable to prosecution if the information so declared is found to be false

Also, at plenary on Tuesday, the House passed for second reading a bill for an act to amend the provisions of the Police Act 2020 to review years of service of police officers to ensure the retention of experienced officers in the force.

The bill was sponsored by the speaker of the House, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen and Hon. Abubakar Makki Yalleman (APC, Jigawa).

“This bill seeks to amend the Nigerian Police Act 2020 to review the service years of police personnel in order to improve the experience and expertise of the police workforce, to retain experienced personnel and reduce the costs of training and recruiting new officers, improve the morale performance and job satisfaction, and to address the shortage of experience police personnel.

“Section 18 of the Principal Act is amended by substituting Amendment of subsection (8)as set out below. Principal Act “(8) Every police officer shall, on recruitment or appointment, serve in the Nigeria Police Force for 40 years or until he attains the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier,” the bill proposes.