Conference takes hard stance against corruption, rape

Abuja (National Conference Report) –  “Except otherwise decided, henceforth, judicial officers convicted of corruption or perversion of justice will be liable to 50 years imprisonment and loss of all official entitlement, including gratuity and pensions without option of fine.”
 
The National Conference sitting in Abuja said this recently, indicating that the decision was based on the examples of some Asian countries where the enactment of such laws helped to restore sanity, reduce corruption, abuse of office, instill due process and the rule of law. They also resolved on corruption that legislation be enacted by the Federal Government, stipulating life imprisonment for anyone found guilty of stealing pension and any public fund.
 
According to sources from the Conference Secretariat, the resolutions followed thorough consideration of the Report of the Committee on Civil Society, Labour, Youth and Sports headed by Bola Ogunrinade with Issa Aremu as Deputy Chairman. The Conference equally resolved that a law be enacted by the Federal Government to provide for life imprisonment with hard labour for any person convicted of rape; while other laws should be enacted to criminalise the use of children for child labour and for alms.
 
“It was also resolved at the meeting that henceforth, any group of workers that remain on strike for more than four weeks shall not be entitled to and not be paid salary for the period and any other time after the four weeks. To revive the education sector, the Conference proposed 26% allocation for education annually at the Federal, State and Local Government levels. It also believed that with such increased allocation, the ailing educational system would be revived and sustained,” the report said.
 
“The Conference also agreed that Government should provide an intervention fund as a matter of priority to revitalize abandoned skill acquisition and vocational training centres throughout the country.”
 
To boost employment in the country, delegates at the Conference resolved that the National Directorate for Employment (NDE), the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), the Community Services Women and Youth Employment Project (CSWYE) and the Graduates Internship Scheme be merged into a single national job creation agency; explaining that this would lead to a coordinated job creation approach.
 
The Conference in taking decision on the growing incidence of casualization in the economy, observed that this has been driven in part by employers’ desire to cut cost and enhance profitability. It added that currently, most employers of labour do not respect the legal provision which requires that after six months of work, the casual workers must be permanently employed.
 
While reasoning that to circumvent this law, such employers have resorted to terminating the appointment of employees after a couple of months and then quickly re-engaging them on a fresh contract, it resolved that all multinational companies and government agencies that have employed casual workers for more than six months should be mandated to take immediate steps to convert them to permanent workers.
 
On the National Youth Service Corps, the Conference agreed that it should be split into three phases for proper repositioning towards relevant youth empowerment. It further said that the first phase will be a one month orientation, followed by six months of primary assignment, integration and industrial exposure; stating that there should also be five months of vocational and entrepreneurial skill acquisition.