By Uchechukwu Okoroafor
The Spokesman of the House of Representatives and member representing Bende North constituency of Abia State in the House of Representatives and frontrunner in the race for the Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives, Hon Benjamin Okezie Kalu, is one of the few federal lawmakers who have earned good reputation for the high numbers of bills they have sponsored or co-sponsored. In his case, once he arrived at the National Assembly in the current 9th Assembly he served notice that he was not there for a jamboree when he moved the first motion of the Assembly. Since then, he has never looked back.
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Recently Chairman, of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon Benjamin Kalu and 19 others were shortlisted for the first-ever Most Valuable Parliamentarian Hall of Fame awards organised by OrderPaper Nigeria.
According to the Executive Director of OrderPaper Nigeria, Mr Oke Epia, the MVP Hall of Fame nomination and subsequent shortlisting applied the criteria of Value, Impact, and Productivity in rating the contributions of those shortlisted. The three-year appraisal focused exclusively on the core legislative function of law-making. While value speaks to the correlation of a bill’s advancement of the governance objective of the federal government; impact relates to the empirical contribution of a bill to the enhancement of the lives and living conditions of citizens; and productivity applies to the stage of progression of a bill to measure the diligence, dedication, and hard work put into its processing by its sponsor.
Last year Kalu was honoured with the award of Outstanding Rep member of the Year 2022 at the Democracy Heroes Award Africa in Abuja. He came ahead of other nominees from the six geopolitical zones of the country in the same category in an online voting exercise. He was voted for his legislative input in the House of Representatives, his coordination and information management of all standing and adhoc committees of the House as well as his massive infrastructural development in Bende Federal Constituency. He was also popular for attracting investments in education, human capital development as well as empowerment schemes for youths and women in his constituency. Voters deployed yardsticks such as good governance, security, infrastructure, women empowerment and other indices of good democratic governance to arrive at their choice.
Hon Ben receives certificate of Nomination for Democracy Heroes AwardHere we are examining some of the bills sponsored by the lawmaker and how they are significant in addressing some of our national challenges.
Associated Gas Reinjection Act (Amendment) Bill was initiated by him. This bill requires that “every company producing oil and gas in Nigeria” to submit to the Minister of Petroleum Resources a plan to utilize all associated gas, or projects to re-inject all associated gas not utilized in an industrial project and prohibits the flaring of AG “without the permission in writing of the Minister.” It authorizes the Minister to issue a flaring certification “utilization or re-injection of the produced gas is not appropriate or feasible in a particular field or fields.”
National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency Act (Amendment) Bill is another bill by him aimed at strengthening the capacity of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) in carrying out its responsibility of enforcing all environmental laws, guidelines, policies, standards and regulations in Nigeria, as well as enforcing compliance with provisions of international agreements, protocols, conventions and treaties on the environment to which Nigeria is a signatory.
Recall that NESREA has responsibility for the protection and development of the environment, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development of Nigeria’s natural resources in general and environmental technology including coordination, and liaison with, relevant stakeholders within and outside Nigeria on matters of enforcement of environmental standards, regulations, rules, laws, policies and guidelines.
Some functions of the Agency, amongst others include to: enforce compliance with guidelines, and legislation on sustainable management of the ecosystem, biodiversity conservation and the development of Nigeria’s natural resources; conduct environmental audit and establish data bank on regulatory and enforcement mechanisms of environmental standards other than in the oil and gas sector; create public awareness and provide environmental education on sustainable environmental management, promote private sector compliance with environmental regulations other than in the oil and gas sector and publish general scientific or other data resulting from the performance of its functions; and carry out such activities as are necessary or expedient for the performance of its functions; prohibit processes and use of equipment or technology that undermine environmental quality; conduct field follow-up of compliance with set standards and take procedures prescribed by law against any violator; subject to the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, and in collaboration with relevant judicial authorities establish mobile courts to expeditiously dispense cases of violation of environmental regulation.
He also initiated the National Planning Commission Act (Amendment) Bill, to make the National Planning Commission to effectively carry out its mandate of determining and advising on policies that will best promote national unity and integration and sustain the Nigerian nation; Ensure social justice and human welfare at all levels of the Nigerian society; Focus on key national development issues and suggest ways for their efficient resolution; and determine how best the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy contained in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 can achieve the major objectives of optimal development and suggest amendments that may be required from time to time, to achieve those objectives in the light of encountered realities; Provide national focal point for the co-ordination and formulation of national policies and programmes among others.
Hon Kalu at an Award EventHe also was behind the Cybercrimes (Prohibition and Protection) Act (Amendment) Bill, 2020 which seeks to address how to deal with cybercrimes in the country in light of the growing dimensions of internet fraud and safety of Nigerians in the cyberspace. There are many Nigerians calling for the amendment of Cybercrimes Act which many lawyers, journalists and activists have considered repressive, unconstitutional and illegal.
Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Development Agency Act (Amendment) Bill, 2020 is another bill linked to Hon Kalu aimed at helping small businesses that are the engine of economic growth in any society and also make the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Development Agency more effective in its responsibility of (a) initiating and articulating ideas for small and medium scale industries policy thrusts (b) serving as a vanguard agency and focal point for industrialization, poverty alleviation and eradication; technology acquisition and adaptation, job creation and sustainable livelihood. (c) promoting and facilitating development programmes, instruments and support services to accelerate development, modernisation, networking and linkage of small and medium scale industries ; (d) mobilising internal and external resources, including technical assistance for small and medium scale industries, their support institutions; trade associations, and non-governmental organization, among others.
In summary these are some of the bills sponsored or co-sponsored by Hon Benjamin Kalu: Associated Gas Reinjection Act (Amendment) Bill, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency Act (Amendment) Bill, National Planning Commission Act (Amendment) Bill, Armed Forces Act (Amendment) Bill, Federal Cooperative College, Oji River (Establishment, etc.) Bill, Federal Cooperative College, Ibadan (Establishment, etc.) Bill, Federal Cooperative College, Kaduna (Establishment, etc.) Bill, Cybercrimes (Prohibition and Protection) Act (Amendment) Bill, 2020, Minerals and Mining Act (Amendment) Bill, 2020, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Development Agency Act (Amendment) Bill, 2020, Automotive Tyres (Mandatory Inscription of Dates) Bill, 2020.
Also, Fiscal Responsibility Act (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and Flags and Coat of Arms Act (Amendment) Bill, 2020. Federal College of Education Bende, (Establishment, etc.) Bill 2020, Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) Act (Amendment) Bill, Counterfeit Currency (Special Provisions) Act (Amendment) Bill, 2020, Dangerous Drugs Act (Amendment) Bill 2020, Acts Authentication Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Nigerian Meteorological Agency Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Nigerian Communications Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Internal Loans (Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Development) Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Public Accounts Implementation Tribunal Act (Repeal) Bill 2019, Official Secrets Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019, among others.
Receiving an Award for Legislative AchievementWith the array of bills behind his name in the National Assembly and awards received by the chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon Benjamin Kalu, it is no longer debatable that he is the hardest working lawmaker in the 9th House of Representatives and thus well equipped for the position of the Speaker of the 10th Assembly!