Hon. Idu Igariwey's Law-making Score-card In The 8th National Assembly

As we all know, the core legislative mandate given to me by the good people of Afikpo North/South Federal Constituency upon election into the National Assembly in 2015, is law-making.
IN this series of posts, i intend to give a modest account of some of the Bills i have sponsored ( or co-sponsored) this session as a member of the 8th National Assembly.
In all, i shall walk you through 12( twelve) bills.
Let me add that i was obviously inspired by my ideological worldview in my choice of bills. I'll demonstrate this with 3 out of the 12 bills;

1. When agents of the State Security Services raided the residences of some Supreme Court judges in the dead of the night & spirited them away in typical commando style ( including our own justice Nwali Ngwuta), my sence of outrage led me to sponsor "a bill to alter section 308 of the 1999 constitution to restrict legal proceedings against the Chief justice of Nigeria and justices of the Supreme court of Nigeria ". In other words, if the President & his vice, a governor & his deputy, enjoy immunity, then justices of the Supreme court ought to enjoy immunity too to enable them do their job. Note that at the time i sponsored this bill, i was conscious of the fact that the National Assembly was considering a bill to ensure immunity for the leadership of the National Assembly. I felt that whatever is good for the leadership of the Executive & Legislative arms of government, should also be good for the leadership of the judiciary.

2. I was inspired to sponsor A Bill for an Act to provide Federal Contracting Preferences And Measures aimed at Promoting And Encouraging Nigerian Patriot Corporations, by the unfortunate plight of thousands of our brothers & sisters who are educated & skilled, but who are languishing in unemployment overseas. The Bill seeks to give special preferences & tax reliefs to a Nigerian company that, among other things, " has a deliberate policy of attracting & employing qualified Nigerians currently living and/or working abroad ".

3. A third example of an ideologically inspired bill is a bill i sponsored to alter the provisions of Section 81(1)of the 1999constitution, " to mamdatorily allow Public participation in the formulation of the annual budget ". My aim here was to " democratize " the budget making process, so that ordinary folks like my constituents ( artisans, market women, youths etc) can participate in the budget making process, rather than the few elite in the budget office, or the Federal Executive Council, or the National Assembly.
So, friends, here's a list of the 12 Bills which I've been associated with in my short sourjourn in the 8th Assembly.

1. A Bill for an Act to amend the National Automotive Council Act, Cap.N8 LFN, 2004 to introduce New Alternative Vehicular Transportation to utilise Nigeria's gas and for other related matter 2017.

2. A Bill for an Act to establish the Federal Agencies Performance and Evaluation Committee and for related matters, 2017.

3. A Bill to establish a network for manufacturing and innovation programme to be domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and for related matters, 2017.

4. An Act to provide for the Federal Agencies Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Bill, 2016.

5. A Bill for an Act to provide for Federal Contracting Preferences And Measures aimed at Promoting And Encouraging and encouraging Nigerian Patriot Corporations and matters connected thereto .

6. A Bill to alter section 81(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to mandate the President to submit budget proposals 3 months before the end of the fiscal year, and other related matters .

7. A Bill for an Act to alter the provisions of Section 82of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999to reduce the period allowed for pre-budget expenditure authorization by Mr President from six to three months, and other related matters.

8. Private Guards Companies ( amendment) Bill 2015.

9. Explosive Act ( Amendment) Bill 2015.

10. An Act to amend the provisions of Section 5 and Repeal section 18(1) and 18(4) of the Armed Forces Act Chapter A20 LFN 2004, to give effect to section 217(3) and 219(A)(B) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria .

11. A Bill for an Act to alter section 308of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 to restrict legal proceedings against the Chief justice of Nigeria and justices of the Supreme court of Nigeria , and other related matters, 2016.

12. An Act to Establish the South East Development Commission Bill...( one of several sponsors).