Lagos Assembly Passes Public Complaints Bill into law

Lagos Assembly passes Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Bill into law

iexclusive News Nigeria reports that Lagos State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission bill has been passed into law.

This is according to a notification by a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Honourable Jude Idimogu.

Sequel to a third reading of the bill and a subsequent unanimous voice vote, the bill was finally passed into law on Tuesday, December 8, 2020.

This online news medium gathered that the Bill seeks to address issues relating to public complaints bothering on accountability of public officers in the state by the proposed commission, mediating in disputes between person(s) to person(s), and government to person(s), especially on administrative procedures that can cause injustice within the administrative jurisdiction.

The bill went through a public hearing on Friday, October 30, 2020, at the Lagos Assembly pavilion.

To expedite the process, the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa directed the Clerk, Barrister Olalekan Onafeko, to forward a clean copy of the bill to Mr. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for his assent.

The law consists of 73 sections with some of the following provisions. Section 14 (2) states that the Commission shall be responsible for the:

• (a) enforcement and due administration of the provision of this law.

• (b) investigation of all financial crimes and anti-corruption cases in the state.

• (c) coordination and enforcement of all anti-corruption and financial crime law and enforcement functions conferred on any other person or authority with regards to the finances and assets of the state Government.

• (d) adoption and enforcement of measures to ensure transparency in the management of resources of the State Government.

• (e) adoption of measures to identify, trace, freeze, confiscate, or seize proceeds derived from acts of corruption and financial crimes related offences or properties, the value of which correspond to such proceeds