Senate faults FG treaties, conventions, moves to confirm MPC nominees

The Senate is worried that most international treaties and conventions entered by the Federal Government over the years do not have the force of law.The upper chamber yesterday said the action was contrary to the provision of the law and insisted, “ no treaty between the Federal Government and any country shall have the force of law except to the extent to which any such treaty has been enacted into law by the National Assembly.”

It also directed the federal ministry of Justice to produce a comprehensive record of all the treaties that were entered into by Nigeria, those that were ratified by the National Assembly, those that are yet to be presented for ratification by the executive and many others that require different forms of action by relevant institutions of government responsible for treaty management in Nigeria.

The upper chamber further urged the executive to submit all bills on all outstanding treaties that require ratification by the National Assembly.These resolutions were sequel to an adopted motion sponsored by Senator Bala Ibn Na’allah, deputy Senate Leader representing Kebbi South senatorial district.Na’allah affirmed that over 250 United Nations treaties, conventions, charters and protocols alone to which Nigeria is a party, over 50 of them have not been ratified as others require succession, signature, acceptance or notifications.

Also worrisome was the fact that there appears to be no comprehensive and accurate data on the exact number of treaties entered by the country since independence.Meanwhile, the Senate has resolved to confirm nominees for the Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, following its importance to the economy of the country.

“We have three requests regarding the Board of the Central Bank of Nigeria; two deputy governors who are also members of MPC and MPC members who are majorly in the private sector.“It is important that we consider our stand in respect of our earlier resolution of confirmation. We should make this exception so that our economy does not collapse,” said Ekweremadu.

The MPC is made up of 12 members; seven from the private sector and five from the Central Bank. The upper chamber had in January embargoed subsequent confirmation of nominees from the presidency pending when the impasse on whether or not it has certain constitutional powers to confirm some nominees was resolved.