The Wednesday session of the confab started with delegates adopting amendments on the recommendations of the committee on transportation approved by the house on Tuesday.The chairman of the committee on the social sector, Josephine Anenih addressed the house on the report/recommendations of her committee.
Comm. Ali Musa Abdulrakir thanked the committee for a job well done and expressed a desire that the president will sign the bill on national social security into law as it is for the good of all Nigerians.
Magaji Danbaka, a Kano state delegate praised the report of the committee for highlighting key issues on education. He noted that Nigeria has the highest number of out of school children in Africa. He recommended the training and re-training of teachers.
Mike Ozekhome said age requirements for public officers pursuing political offices should be reduced. That of the president should be reduced from forty to thirty five, senator from 35-30 and Reps from 30-25, citing the examples of great philosophers, and even Jesus Christ, whom he said, were in their 20s or 30s when they changed the fate of this world.
Joe Okei Odumakin said Medical personnel who wrongly diagnose Nigerians should be jailed for not less than ten years while adequate compensation should also be paid to victim’s families if the wrong diagnosis led to their deaths.
“Gani Fawehinmi was being treated for pneumonia, but by the time he was taken out, his cancer has reached fourth stage,” she said.
Oyewole Tomori said the foundation of education begins at home, not at the primary school. He said parents need to start educating their kids at home. He said the country used to produce vaccines in the 1970s but now depend wholly on imports.
On his part, Munzali Jibril said he hoped that the confab would bring an end to the cycle of strikes by Academic staff, pointing out that it will be a big achievement.
He said there is serious funding gap in the system and ASUU has been the main source of funding to the system. “Government is always forced to meet its obligation after ASUU strike,” he said. He also said most ASUU chairmen count as their success the strike they led to force the government to meet its obligations.
However, pointing out that he had been an ASUU counsel for 32 years, Femi Falana said that Jibril was wrong to say every ASUU president leads a strike.
Johnson Oluwatan said without appropriate data management in Nigeria, the problem of identity fraud will always be a problem.
He also said the activities of NGO’s should be regulated under one platform. He added that it is high time that government and individual organizations introduce ethics as a curricula.he said corruption has virtually destroyed Nigeria and there is the need to set best standards as obtained in many countries.
There were serious arguments on whether to return private and mission schools to their original owners but in the end, those who argued in favour of the motion had their way.
Delegates then voted on the recommendation that all states should operate the same health insurance scheme.