Senate moves to legalise lobbying in Nigeria

The Senate on Wednesday began moves to legalise
lobbying in Nigeria as it passed for second reading,
a Bill seeking for law to register and regulate
lobbying as a profession.
The “Bill for an Act for the Regulation and
Registration of Lobbyists in Nigeria and for other
matters connected therewith, 2016’’ is sponsored by
Dino Melaye, (APC, Kogi West).
While presenting his lead debate, Mr. Melaye argued
that the National Assembly needed to recognise and
approve professional lobbyists in the legislature.
He added that the Bill would also make provision for
intending lobbyist to be duly registered under the
Company and Allied and Matters Act.
Mr. Melaye said that the lobbyist after being
registered with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)
would also have to register with the Ministry of
Justice to practice as lobbyist in the Senate or House
of Representatives.
He defined lobbying as an activity in which special
interests hire well-connected professional advocates,
often lawyers, to argue for specific legislation in
parliament.
He said that although the bill looked controversial
and perceived as negative, lobbying took place at
every level of government.
“The bill will create stricter registration requirement
for lobbyists and also require lobbyists to disclose
how much they make and spend on lobbying.
“It will ban lobbyist from paying for gifts and food
as a means of inducement and it would give
oversight agencies more powers to investigate
violation of ethics laws,” he said.
The lawmaker added that the Bill will also offer the
legislator opportunity to be more informed about a
bill before it comes for reading.
According to him, the lobbyists will be readily
available to inform the legislators of the idea behind
the Bill being pushed.
Many senators, including Ben Bruce, Godswill
Akpabio, and Mohammed Ali Ndume, who spoke,
supported the Bill.
They argued that when passed, the Bill would help
legislators to sponsor individual bills.
The senate referred the Bill to its Committee on
Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, with a
directive to report back in three weeks.
(NAN)