Gbajabiamila’s legislative interventions on COVID-19

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has initiated some legislative interventions to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the populace. Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN examines how the Speaker’s legislative actions have reduced the effects of lockdown order by the federal and state governments on the people.

NIGERIA, like other nations of the world, is in trying times occasioned by the outbreak of Coronavirus, which is also known as COVID-19. Prominent Nigerians and political leaders from both the legislature and the executive have intervened to make life easier for ordinary Nigerians. For instance, the House of Representatives, led by the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamiala, has been proactive in this regard. He has demonstrated patriotism. The Speaker has engaged in many thoughtful intervention initiatives aimed at reducing the hardship being experienced by the people, following the lockdown order by the federal and state governments.

In response to the complaints of the people over the erratic power supply across the country, Gbajabiamila held a meeting with the stakeholders in the power sector. His attention was drawn to the public complaint in a viral video by a Nollywood actress, Ada Ameh, who had protested the poor electricity supply to Nigerians during the ongoing lockdown. The Speaker instantly summoned the Minister of Power, Mr Sale Mamman, and the management of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the Minister of Finance and the Central Bank governor among others, to brainstorm on the way forward. At the meeting attended by some principal officers of the House, Gbajabiamila expressed dismay over the barrage of calls and messages from many Nigerians through his social media account. He called for prompt action.

He said: “It has become imperative that I urgently call for this meeting to find a solution to the poor supply of electricity during this lockdown. If we ask people to stay at home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, at least we have to make their homes comfortable for them to stay. The complaints have just been too much in the last 24 hours. There are people also in the hospital now without electricity; we need to brainstorm over an urgent solution”.

At the meeting, the minister highlighted the challenges encountered by power Generating Companies (GENCOs) and solicited for the intervention of the leadership of the House of Representatives. He said the GENCOs have been complaining that Distribution Companies (DISCOs) are not paying and only about 20 per cent of their dues are remitted.

The minister said: “The GENCOs are facing technical and revenue shortfalls. Consequently, they can’t as well meet their financial obligations to gas companies. The discos also pay less of their generated revenue to GENCOs, because they complain about power theft by consumers, high technical costs, etc. The sum of N130 billion is what the government gives GENCOs to augment the shortfall of payments not fulfilled by DISCOs. We still have about N1.2 trillion payment shortfall in all. I have been begging the gas supplies to please, in the interest of Nigerians, release gas to the GENCOS. The shortfalls are accruals from the problem of estimated billing, non-payment of bills by estimated customers, etc.”

Mamman added: “What the National Assembly can do is to plead with The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to help with funds to enable the government to augment the revenue shortfall to enable government pay gas companies and thereby bring all the critical stakeholders to a table.”

However, the NERC Commissioner on Compliance, Mr Akpaneye, assured the Speaker that the commission had committed the DISCOs to a new guideline that shows empathy with Nigerian during this COVID-19 lockdown. He said: “All NERC Commissioners are in the situation room in our office monitoring GENCOs and DISCOs activities. We know the demand for this power during this lockdown is for residential, since most industries are on lockdown, so we are going to release a new guideline and sanction electricity companies that can show empathy during this period.”

At the end of the meeting, all the stakeholders assured the Speaker of their commitment to ensuring power supply. They also agreed to reconvene in the next few days to find lasting solutions to the challenges in the sector beyond the lockdown period.

Gbajabiamila proposed a bill to give Nigerians free electricity supply for two months, to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill, the Speaker said, will be considered immediately the House reconvenes. He said: “electricity being a commodity consumed by every household, has a greater effect on the people and that since more Nigerians are in the informal sector, the effects would be more felt by the economy”.

He added: “It’s one thing that will touch every household. I have discussed with the DISCOs; I have asked them to propose what would be required (for government’s approval), to offer two months free electricity to Nigerians. I think we should look very seriously into that as part of our package for economic stimulus because stimulus means something that will stimulate the economy. When you are stimulating the economy, most of it will come from the informal sector.”

Already, power distribution companies have accepted the proposal that Nigerians should get two months of free electricity. The Executive Director, Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), Mr Sunday Oduntan, said the modalities for the free power would be worked out and made public in due course. He said: “In fulfilment of our commitments to the nation, we hereby align ourselves with the efforts of the National Assembly and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to mitigate the hardship that is currently being borne by our customers and other citizens all over the country.”

Following the public outcry against the invitation of Chinese doctors by the Federal Government to come to assist our medical personnel in the fight against COVID-19, the Speaker summoned the Health Minister, Dr Osagie Ehanire and Minister of State for Health, Dr Adeleke Mamora to a meeting for clarification. The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had also rejected the plan to invite the Chinese medical experts.

Gbajabiamila told the ministers that “there are a lot of complaints about why we are bringing in Chinese doctors”. He said it has become necessary for the legislature to intervene, following the concerns raised by Nigerians. But the ministers told the Speaker that the Chinese medical experts were only coming to share their experiences and train Nigeria’s medical personnel. They are not accredited and cannot practice, but only coming to share their experiences. He said they are public health specialists who are in a position to advise their Nigerian counterparts, since the pandemic started from their country and they were able to contain its spread.

At the end of the meeting, the Speaker extracted  the following commitments from the ministers: “That the Chinese doctors will follow the protocol and be quarantined for 14 days once they arrive in Nigeria; the doctors will at no time have any physical contact with any patient; there will be strict compliance with relevant immigration laws regarding working permits and the Chinese doctors will help in setting up molecular laboratories in Nigeria as well as upgrade and reconfigure the existing ones.”

Observers say that Gbajabiamila’s intervention gave the ministers the opportunity to educate the public about the mission of the Chinese doctors. His intervention, they added, has helped to douse the tension over the visiting Chinese doctors.

Worried by the effect of the Coronavirus outbreak on the economy, the House of Representatives passed a bill titled: “Emergency Stimulus Bill 2020”, to provide relief measures for Nigerians like tax waivers for companies, to help them to keep their workers within the period of the disease. The bill was promptly passed before the House went on recess on the account of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The bill, which was sponsored by Gbajabiamila and other principal officers, made provision for relief on corporate tax liability, suspension of import duty and selected goods and deferral of residential mortgage obligations to the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria for a fixed term to protect jobs and alleviate the financial burden on citizens in response to the economic downturn occasioned by the outbreak of COVID-19 disease and for related matters.

He said the bill will protect the jobs of Nigerians by ensuring that employers of labour keep their workforce and pay their emoluments as and when due, stressing that when this is done, such employers will be entitled to a refund of 50 per cent of the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) of workers within the period. He said that as a result of the disease, it was natural for employers to want to retrench as part of their survival measures, adding that this was the time for the government to make a sacrifice for the people.

The Speaker said the outbreak of the virus was a call on Nigerians to think outside the box on how to control the unusual ailment that had constituted a major threat to the global economy and mankind. He said although the government had put measures in place and often acts through the legislature, there is no better move to safeguard the people than the move by the lawmakers.

The lawmakers have resolved to donate two months salaries towards curbing the spread of the virus. Gbajabiamila said: “We have in the House of Representatives jointly committed to contribute 100 per cent of our salaries for the next two months to the fight of CONVID-19 in Nigeria. The donation will be to support the provision for the welfare of the frontline medical professionals and health workers and other interventions to provide for the well-being of Nigerians through this trying time”, the Speaker stated adding that the salaries will be transferred to the relief fund account.

Although Gbajabiamila is a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) that did not stop him from criticising the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programme (SIP), particularly on the mode of selection and implementation of cash payment to vulnerable Nigerians. He called for enabling legislation in line with global best practices.

Gbajabiamila maintained that for the poorest of the poor to benefit from the conditional cash transfer scheme, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Sadiya Umar Farouk should work with lawmakers who are closer to the people.   He said: “Questions are going to be asked. How do you come about your list? How comprehensive is your distribution list? What are the parameters? What’s the geographical spread?

“We as representatives to the people should be providing those answers to the Nigerian people we represent. But if they ask me as Speaker of the House of Representatives or ask the Senate President or any of our colleagues, we are going to be struggling for answers. If we were really representing, then we will not need to ask because we will the answers. The relevant committees in the House of Representatives have been complaining bitterly even before the minister took over the scheme about the inability to access information about the scheme. Nigeria’s SIP is similar to the Unemployment Insurance Act in the United Kingdom and the Social Security Act in the United States.”

The Speaker added: “There are a lot of things to take away from this COVID-19. One of them is the international best practices. My point is that these things are backed by law. They must be codified by the legislature so that these issues and these questions will not arise because right there and then in the piece of legislation that is crafted, the parameters we are asking for is in the law, how do you distribute it in the law. So it is not based on the whims and caprices or discretion of how he wants to distribute it. We will codify and come up with legislation that will meet the international best practices”. The minister agreed that there should be synergy between her ministry and the National Assembly, especially on the SIP. She said: “We are going to work together to see that we give legal backing to this programme because that is the only way to go.”