Senate reduces ICPC chair’s administrative powers

There are insinuations that the Senate, during its recent amendment of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission Act (2000), stripped the Chairman of the commission of some powers, Sunday PUNCH has gathered. The Senate passed the 70-clause amendment bill on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has yet to concur with the Senate over the amendment.

Part of the amendment by the Senate was to accommodate two years jail term without an option of fine for any individual who writes a false petition or gives false information to officials of the commission.

However, there are insinuations at the ICPC that the reduction of the powers of the ICPC chair followed the tracking of lawmakers’ constituency projects by the commission, which has forced 450 contractors to return to project sites to complete abandoned projects valued at over N45bn.

The amendment reducing the powers of the ICPC chairman was revealed in a document exclusively obtained by Sunday PUNCH, which showed that the red chamber further amended Section 3 of the Principal Act by inserting a new subsection 3(11), creating offices for commissioners in the commission.

The new subsection 3(11) states, “The commissioners of the commission shall have the following offices: i. Commissioner (Investigative Matters), ii. Commissioner (Legal Matters), iii. Commissioner (Prevention, Systems Review and Financial Intelligence), iv. Commissioner (Asset Recovery and Management), v. Commissioner (Anti-Corruption Education and Mobilisation), vi. Commissioner (Forensics and Emerging Technologies), vii. Zonal Commissioner, North-East, viii. Zonal Commissioner, North-Central, ix. Zonal Commissioner, North-West, x. Zonal Commissioner, South-East, xi. Zonal Commissioner, South-South, and xii. Zonal Commissioner, South-West.

The amendment provided further that in assigning responsibilities to the commissioners, the President shall have regard to the appointees’ geopolitical zones and discipline.”

Top sources who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity revealed that the amendment of Section 3 of the Principal Act and the new subsection 3(11) has reduced the powers of the ICPC Chairman and invariably reduced the powers of the ICPC itself.

A source at the ICPC said, “The amendment was done secretly without public hearing because the Senate knew that people would have protested against such. The secret amendment has whittled down the powers of the chairman of the commission unlike other law enforcement agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, and the Nigeria Customs Service, among others.

“The senators are trying to get back at the ICPC Chairman over his unyielding posture with respect to preventing corruption in constituency projects. Under the constituency and executive projects tracking initiative which is in its fifth stage, the ICPC has tracked about 4,000 projects valued at about N200bn.”

Another senior official stressed that the powers of law enforcement agencies could not be subjected to decisions of committees and political considerations, noting that this would affect the duties of the commission and powers of the chairman.

The official added, “The senate is only fighting back due to the fact that the ICPC has been tracking their projects. The tracking has forced 450 contractors to return to project sites to complete abandoned projects valued at over N45bn.”

The official alleged that some members of the relevant senate committee were influenced by some ICPC board members who had been seeking for more powers for the board.

Meanwhile, the senate also amended Section 4(2) of the Act to allow “any five board members” to form a quorum for meetings, and that the five members in attendance shall appoint a chairman to preside over the meetings, whereas before the amendment, the Section stated that the chairman of the ICPC and any four board members of the commission would constitute a quorum for meetings.

The sources noted that if the amendment succeeded, any five board members could meet and make far reaching decisions without the involvement of the ICPC chairman.

They also noted that to further whittle down the powers of the chairman, the Senate also amended Section 7 of the Principal Act on the issuance of administrative orders by the chairman called “standing orders” to ensure the efficient and effective functioning of the commission. However, the amendment of Section 7(1) substituted ‘chairman’ with ‘commission’.

The Senate in Sections 3(5), 3(6), 3(7), 3(8), 3(9) and 3(10) of the Principal Act also substituted ‘board members’ with ‘commissioners’. The red chamber also reduced the punishment for offering and accepting gratifications in Sections 8, 9 and 10 of the Principal Act.

The officials lamented that the amendment posed a serious threat to the fight against corruption and could have serious implications for the ICPC.

House debates bill

Meanwhile, the Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has suspended the move by the House to concur with the Senate on the amendment of the bill, disclosing that there are complaints from outside the chamber over the bill.

Gbajabiamila disclosed that he had been receiving calls from different quarters over some proposed amendments to the Act.

The legislation was listed for second reading in the House on Thursday, but the Speaker asked that the consideration of the bill be suspended till next week to allow proper review of the proposal.

The legislation was titled, ‘A bill for an Act to amend the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 to strengthen the role of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offence Commission, and allow it prosecute cases before the Federal High Court, align its provisions with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, clear ambiguities and enhance its preventive role by providing for shared responsibility to quicken and deepen the execution of the commission’s mandate and for related matters.’

When the House got to Item 17 on the Order Paper at the plenary on Tuesday, Gbajabiamila, who said he had yet to examine the content of the bill, asked that it should be stepped down till Tuesday, disclosing that the Chairman of the ICPC, Prof Bolaji Owasanoye, and other persons had called him to raise issues against the proposed amendment.

The Speaker added, “People have called me and I want to actually look at it and study it. I will advise that all of us get a hold of this bill coming from the Senate and have a good look at it because it will come up maybe on Tuesday, so that we can look at it thoroughly and know whether it is worth the amendment or not. I have had calls, even from the ICPC chairman whom I haven’t even spoken to (before). So, it is better to err on the side of caution. On this particular one, we step it down till Tuesday.”

The senate in the amendment reduced the fine for inflating the price of goods and services from N1m to N500,000, as prescribed by the existing Section 22(3) of the Act. The old version read, “Any public officer who, in the course of his official duties, inflates the price of any good or service above the prevailing market price or professional standards shall be guilty of an offence under this act and liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of seven years and a fine of N1m.”