Thursday, 5th June 2014...
On this day, conference resumed sittingat 9:05 am, presided over by the chairman.
Votes and proceedings of the previous day were read, amended and adopted.
Announcement:
The deputy chair announced that delegates who are of the Engineering profession are requested by their colleagues to sign-up a register at the conference venue.
We concluded voting of additional recommendation of the report of the committee on public service.
The recommendation of increase of retirement age was rejected - Yes!
My recommendation that henceforth, no agency of government should charge any fee, no matter how little, from fresh graduates before offering them employment in the public service was accepted and adopted - except for the few nays heard, our criminals are not far from us sometimes.
Another recommendation I made that - to make it easy for fresh graduates, recruitment centers should be set up at state levels for applicants - that was agreed unanimously.
Motion for the federal character commission to be upgraded to include equal opportunities was read and unanimously adopted by the conference.
Terms of the motion
- Federal character commission should be upgraded to address issues of equity and equal opportunities in order to take care of other key sectors and group in the society.
- That the law establishing the federal character commission be reviewed to reflect the above proposal.
- Furthermore, the commission should be rename de equal opportunities commission, so as to be able to address the issues of affirmative action for the people with disabilities (as already noted on page 44 of the report of the public service commission) and other vulnerable groups including ethnic and religious minorities - women, youth and other sector of the society that are often excluded.
Additional recommendations; where either the President or the National Assembly fails to meet the timeliness set for the passage of the Appropriation Bill, government will have to shut down operations.
Another recommendation agreed on is that; Section 82 of the 1999 Constitution which deals with authorization of expenditure in default of appropriation be amended to stop any expenditure by government in the event of a delay in the passage of the budget with established timelines.
I guess I have told you about the agreement that Appropriation Bill for the coming year must be presented to the National Assembly on or beforeSeptember 30 of every year while the process of passage by the National Assembly must be completed within two months for Presidential assent in December.
Three amendments were suggested to include that Section 59 (3) of the 1999 Constitution be amended to include that:
i. where the National Assembly fails to consider and pass the Appropriation Bill within the stated time frame, the bill shall be sent to Mr President for his/her assent.
ii. That failure to adhere to the time frame stated for the presentation of the Appropriation Bill shall form part of the definition of misconduct as stated in Sections 142 (11) and 188 (11) respectively.
iii. In the event that the budget is not approved by the 2nd of January, Government should operate on the basis of 75% of previous year’s Budget as an interim measure to avoid shut down.
However, All three suggestions were rejected as delegates insisted that failure to meet the deadlines by either of the parties should result in a shut-down of government, as no expenditure would be allowed as contained in Section 82 of the 1999 Constitution. This is to stem the current situation where both the Executive and the Legislature do not seem to be bothered about delays in budget presentation and approval. Giving conditions in a situation of failure was viewed as indulgence.
An amendment that faced serious defeat was the recommendation made by women that ; 40% of the ministers so appointed by the President under the said section should be female - if you hear the nayyyyyyy ehen, it was deafening...
The suggestion that labour and minimum wage issues be moved to the Concurrent Legislative List as against the current exclusive legislative list was rejected.
The Committee had recommended that since the minimum wage is fixed at a level just above the poverty line, and it is the duty of the Federal Government to ensure that the pay of every Nigerian is above the poverty line, labour matters should retained in the Exclusive Legislative list.
However, an amendment that minimum wage be raised from N18, 000 to not less than N40, 000 for public servants was rejected - mind you I didn't reject that o :(
A recommendation by the Committee that a new sub-section be introduced in the 1999 Constitution that would compel government to review public sector pay every five years to take cognizance of trends in the cost of living was approved by the Conference and adopted.
The committee on public service report was then adopted as amended.
Next committee - science, technology and development report was read by their chairman, comments on the report were taken by the conference. Some of the recommendations the committee made were;
- For effective contribution and synergy in the science and technology sector, and to ensure continuity and seriousness of purpose, the Presidential Council on Science, Technology and Innovation should be enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.
The report noted that in Nigeria, technological adaptation and innovation through research and development have been thwarted by very low and uncertain funding.
For instance, it stated that at its peak in 1982, capital budget allocation to science and technology was N99 million; in 1983, it was N68 million; in 1984, it was reduced to a mere N14 million while in 1985; it went down to a miserable N7.5 million.
It said the way forward was for Nigeria to strengthen the basic science and technology infrastructure and modern research facilities needed to execute projects that can lead to innovation.
The Committee said government should fund science and technology development programs with up to 2% of the Federation Account while state governments should contribute to research by way of research projects.
Government, it said, should make it mandatory for every industry to establish research units, contribute money to the Science and Technology Development Trust Fund, and give scholarships to individuals and institutions to carry out research
They stressed on the need for governors to up their game on power generation, transmission and distribution; steel industries and machine tools; and national metallurgical development centre; among others.
The Committee observed that Nigeria is yet to implement the African Union resolution that a minimum of one per cent GDP of nations should be dedicated to research and development purposes.
It called for increased campaign to create public awareness in science and technology and their vital role in national development through all possible means, including the media, research and development.
The committee recommended that the Nigerian Academy of Science and the Nigerian Academy of Engineering, because of their linkages as professional bodies should, through a deliberate policy be engaged in order to enhance the impact of science and technology output on the economy.
To ensure the rapid growth of science and technology, the Committee recommended promotion of academic industry linkage programmes to enhance knowledge sharing through mandatory exposure of academics to industry in the design of programmes in educational institutions.
They also recommended the need for the introduction of necessary legal frameworks to ensure that activities of the social media operators are properly guided and streamlined to avoid abuse and the need for government to make laws to regulate the operations of cyber cafes for the protection of children and under-aged users - See they want to come after us :)
Well after the committee chairman presented their report, the conference adjourned at 6:36 pm to resume on Monday to open debate on the committee on science and technology report.
On this day, conference resumed sittingat 9:05 am, presided over by the chairman.
Votes and proceedings of the previous day were read, amended and adopted.
Announcement:
The deputy chair announced that delegates who are of the Engineering profession are requested by their colleagues to sign-up a register at the conference venue.
We concluded voting of additional recommendation of the report of the committee on public service.
The recommendation of increase of retirement age was rejected - Yes!
My recommendation that henceforth, no agency of government should charge any fee, no matter how little, from fresh graduates before offering them employment in the public service was accepted and adopted - except for the few nays heard, our criminals are not far from us sometimes.
Another recommendation I made that - to make it easy for fresh graduates, recruitment centers should be set up at state levels for applicants - that was agreed unanimously.
Motion for the federal character commission to be upgraded to include equal opportunities was read and unanimously adopted by the conference.
Terms of the motion
- Federal character commission should be upgraded to address issues of equity and equal opportunities in order to take care of other key sectors and group in the society.
- That the law establishing the federal character commission be reviewed to reflect the above proposal.
- Furthermore, the commission should be rename de equal opportunities commission, so as to be able to address the issues of affirmative action for the people with disabilities (as already noted on page 44 of the report of the public service commission) and other vulnerable groups including ethnic and religious minorities - women, youth and other sector of the society that are often excluded.
Additional recommendations; where either the President or the National Assembly fails to meet the timeliness set for the passage of the Appropriation Bill, government will have to shut down operations.
Another recommendation agreed on is that; Section 82 of the 1999 Constitution which deals with authorization of expenditure in default of appropriation be amended to stop any expenditure by government in the event of a delay in the passage of the budget with established timelines.
I guess I have told you about the agreement that Appropriation Bill for the coming year must be presented to the National Assembly on or beforeSeptember 30 of every year while the process of passage by the National Assembly must be completed within two months for Presidential assent in December.
Three amendments were suggested to include that Section 59 (3) of the 1999 Constitution be amended to include that:
i. where the National Assembly fails to consider and pass the Appropriation Bill within the stated time frame, the bill shall be sent to Mr President for his/her assent.
ii. That failure to adhere to the time frame stated for the presentation of the Appropriation Bill shall form part of the definition of misconduct as stated in Sections 142 (11) and 188 (11) respectively.
iii. In the event that the budget is not approved by the 2nd of January, Government should operate on the basis of 75% of previous year’s Budget as an interim measure to avoid shut down.
However, All three suggestions were rejected as delegates insisted that failure to meet the deadlines by either of the parties should result in a shut-down of government, as no expenditure would be allowed as contained in Section 82 of the 1999 Constitution. This is to stem the current situation where both the Executive and the Legislature do not seem to be bothered about delays in budget presentation and approval. Giving conditions in a situation of failure was viewed as indulgence.
An amendment that faced serious defeat was the recommendation made by women that ; 40% of the ministers so appointed by the President under the said section should be female - if you hear the nayyyyyyy ehen, it was deafening...
The suggestion that labour and minimum wage issues be moved to the Concurrent Legislative List as against the current exclusive legislative list was rejected.
The Committee had recommended that since the minimum wage is fixed at a level just above the poverty line, and it is the duty of the Federal Government to ensure that the pay of every Nigerian is above the poverty line, labour matters should retained in the Exclusive Legislative list.
However, an amendment that minimum wage be raised from N18, 000 to not less than N40, 000 for public servants was rejected - mind you I didn't reject that o :(
A recommendation by the Committee that a new sub-section be introduced in the 1999 Constitution that would compel government to review public sector pay every five years to take cognizance of trends in the cost of living was approved by the Conference and adopted.
The committee on public service report was then adopted as amended.
Next committee - science, technology and development report was read by their chairman, comments on the report were taken by the conference. Some of the recommendations the committee made were;
- For effective contribution and synergy in the science and technology sector, and to ensure continuity and seriousness of purpose, the Presidential Council on Science, Technology and Innovation should be enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.
The report noted that in Nigeria, technological adaptation and innovation through research and development have been thwarted by very low and uncertain funding.
For instance, it stated that at its peak in 1982, capital budget allocation to science and technology was N99 million; in 1983, it was N68 million; in 1984, it was reduced to a mere N14 million while in 1985; it went down to a miserable N7.5 million.
It said the way forward was for Nigeria to strengthen the basic science and technology infrastructure and modern research facilities needed to execute projects that can lead to innovation.
The Committee said government should fund science and technology development programs with up to 2% of the Federation Account while state governments should contribute to research by way of research projects.
Government, it said, should make it mandatory for every industry to establish research units, contribute money to the Science and Technology Development Trust Fund, and give scholarships to individuals and institutions to carry out research
They stressed on the need for governors to up their game on power generation, transmission and distribution; steel industries and machine tools; and national metallurgical development centre; among others.
The Committee observed that Nigeria is yet to implement the African Union resolution that a minimum of one per cent GDP of nations should be dedicated to research and development purposes.
It called for increased campaign to create public awareness in science and technology and their vital role in national development through all possible means, including the media, research and development.
The committee recommended that the Nigerian Academy of Science and the Nigerian Academy of Engineering, because of their linkages as professional bodies should, through a deliberate policy be engaged in order to enhance the impact of science and technology output on the economy.
To ensure the rapid growth of science and technology, the Committee recommended promotion of academic industry linkage programmes to enhance knowledge sharing through mandatory exposure of academics to industry in the design of programmes in educational institutions.
They also recommended the need for the introduction of necessary legal frameworks to ensure that activities of the social media operators are properly guided and streamlined to avoid abuse and the need for government to make laws to regulate the operations of cyber cafes for the protection of children and under-aged users - See they want to come after us :)
Well after the committee chairman presented their report, the conference adjourned at 6:36 pm to resume on Monday to open debate on the committee on science and technology report.
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