*halt army’s plan to stop admission of female cadets into NDA

By Levinus Nwabughiogu

ABUJA- House of Representatives on Thursday mandated its Committee on Works to investigate the nature of the Contracts and concession arrangements on the Second Niger Bridge and Lagos-Ibadan Expressway contracts.

House of Representatives

They also urged the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to include funds in the 2018 budget for the completion of the projects.

The lawmakers also urged the Armed Forces Council and the Federal Ministry of Defense to halt the plan to stop admission of Combatant Female cadets into the Nigerian Defence Academy, NDA.

The resolutions were taken after two separate motions on them were considered at the plenary presided over by Deputy Speaker, Hon. Yusuff Lasun.

Presenting the first motion titled: “Need to Investigate the Nature of the Contract and/or Concession Agreement on the Second Niger Bridge and the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway”, Hon. Solomon Maren (Plateau State) said that unless the projects were completed, commuters would continue to experience difficulties in transportation.

He said: “The House notes that contracts for construction of the Second Niger Bridge and reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway have continued to feature in the annual budgets without any seeming signs of their completion or the amount required to do so.

“Also notes the revelation by the Hon. Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola while commenting on the 2017 Appropriation Act that monies for the projects were reduced and they may become elephant projects as they are not under any concessional or Public Private Partnership (PPP) Arrangement.

“Aware that the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) had spent about N18 billion on the projects as the financier during their early stages

“Cognizant that the completion of the projects is pivotal to national development as they have potentials to douse tension across the country, especially in the face of the widespread agitations for restructuring of the governance mode of the country and separation by some pressure group

“Concerned that the manner of the execution of the projects is not in accordance with defined methods for executing projects and/or contracting procedures

“Believes that unless proactive steps are taken to ensure completion of the projects, the efforts that have been made to ease the transportation difficulties of the people would have been in vain, business would continue to suffer heavy losses and operational costs, while the originally intended aim of galvanizing the various interests of Nigerians through the execution of the projects will remain unfulfilled”.

Contributing to the motion, Hon. Mohammed Sani (Bauchi State) said it was necessary to ascertain whether the projects were concessioned or subsumed under direct funding by the federal government.

He said: “We should define a particular form of contract. Federal Ministry of Works will decide on the form of contract”.

It was later established that Lagos-Ibadan road was under concession while the Second Niger bridge was not.

Making further clarification on the matter, Hon. Ali Madaki (Kano) said that “There is a concession agreement which was signed on the Lagos-Ibadan road in the previous government of President Jonathan which I believe is still binding on this government.”

Ruling on the motion, Hon Lasun heeded the prayer, asking the Committee on Works to investigate the nature of the Contracts and concession arrangements and report back within 4 weeks for further legislative action.

On the same note, the House also mandated the Committees on Defence, Army, Navy and Air Force to investigate the plan to stop admission of female cadet into the Nigerian Defence Academy.

Moving the motion titled “Call to halt the proposed Plan to stop admission of combatant femal cadets into the Nigerian Defence Academy” which prompted the decision, Hon. Omosede Igbinedion (Edo) said that the media had been awash with stories of such plan.

She said the plan was against the affirmation action for women, urging the military to reconsider their position.
“The House notes that Section 42(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 prohibits discriminatory practices against any person on the basis of sex, etc;

“Also notes that Nigeria is a signatory to the Beijing Declaration of 1995 and the Follow Up Summit on Strengthening the Institutional Arrangements for Support of Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women which also coincided with Agenda 113 of the 7th session of the United Nations General Assembly of 2012

“Further notes hat Affirmative Action means positive steps be taken to increase the representation of women and minorities in areas of employment, education and all such other areas from which they have historically been excluded

“Informed that in 2011, the Nigerian Defence Academy admitted the first set of twenty female cadets into the Regular Combatant Commission which will afford the cadets the opportunity to aspire to head any of the Armed Forces in the future;

“Aware of a report in the Punch Newspaper of Monday, 13 November, 2017 captioned “Military Stop Admission of Combatant Female Cadets” which if true amounts to a major policy reversal of monumental proportion and a set back because scrapping the course for women will deny them the opportunity of heading any Arm of the Nigerian Military

“Cognizant that institutions are usually established to promote the provisions of the Constitution and not to breach them as the move to end the admission of female cadets seems to suggest

“Urge the Armed Forces Council and the Federal Ministry of Defense to halt the plan to stop admission of Combatant Female cadets into the Nigerian Defence Academy”, she said.

The Committee was given 4 weeks within which to conclude its assignments and report back to the House for further legislative action.