NGO wants NASS consider Presidential Transition Bill

NGO urges NASS to pass Presidential Transition Bill
By Olasunkanmi Onifade
Bill
Abuja, June 1, 2018 (NAN) Save Democracy Africa (SDA), an NGO, on Friday appealed to the National Assembly (NASS) to consider passing into law the Presidential Transition Bill.
Sen. Adefemi Kila (APC-Ekiti Central) made the appeal during a CS0’s consultative forum on executive transition of power in Abuja.
He said the bill would foster hitch-free executive transition of power from one democratically elected government to another, if passed into law.
Kila stressed the need for soft landing of outgoing presidents, saying if the bill scales through it will enhance peace and orderliness in the change of government.
He said the country do not have transition process as obtained in advanced countries except for committees which were usually temporarily set up for that purpose.
“It is pertinent to have an institution to encourage smooth and peaceful change in government and for that to happen, certain information, criteria and logistics must be in place both for the incoming and outgoing presidents.
“For instance, when this government took over power it took six months to have his ministers in place and that is not good.
“If there is a system which says you have only one month to set up your cabinet and total handover notes many other things will be in place,” he said.
Earlier, a representative of the Centre for Democracy Development (CDD), Mr Austine Aigbe, said the bill would ease transition between incoming and outgoing administrations and ensure peace in the country.
He said that countries like Kenya lost thousands of its citizens some time when the transition process became an issue.
The Project Director, Mr Ifedi Okwenna, said the bill has been pending before NASS, saying it will had helped countries like Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia avoid crises that accompanied their handing over processes.
He therefore called for its speedy passage, assuring that when passed into law it will ensure accountability and transparency in the system.
“This Bill institutionalises the transition process and takes it out of the whims and caprices of the actors in the political arena,” he said. (NAN)
OEO/FFP/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola