Reps investigate $40m surveillance contract • Adopt anti-gay marriage Bill

Reps investigate $40m surveillance contract

• Adopt anti-gay marriage Bill

THE House of Representatives has ordered an investigation into the alleged award of $40 million Internet surveillance contract by the Presidency to a foreign company.

The said contract was intended to monitor computers and Internet activities of over 45 millions Nigerians.

The alleged contract was reportedly awarded to an Israeli firm.

Meanwhile, the House has adopted the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Bill, preparatory for its third reading.

The House mandated its committees on ICT, Justice and Anti- corruption to investigate the alleged contract, while the Presidency was directed to put the contract on hold while the investigation lasts.

This was the outcome of a motion introduced under matters of urgent public importance by Ibrahim Shehu Gusau (ANPP Zamfara) who stated that the contract was reported to have been awarded secretly and in clear disregard for due process and the Fiscal Responsibility Act as well as the Public Procurement Act of 2007.

According to him, the award has violated the basic privacy provision in Chapter 4, Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, pointing out that the contract purportedly awarded for intelligence gathering for purposes of national security may not be the answer to the glaring security challenges facing the country at the moment.

He further argued that the right to private and family life of Nigerians have been violated and breached by the arrangement.

Both Houses of the Sixth National Assembly had passed the controversial bill, but was not assented to by the President, prompting the Albert Sam-Tsokwa-led Rules and Business Committee of the House of Representatives to re-introduce it for the Committee of the Seventh House to consider.

Speaking with journalists after the adoption, spokesman of the House, Zakari Mohammed, stated that the lawmakers have spoken the minds of Nigerians, and added that there was no going back.

Key sections of the Eight-clause Bill were that “marriage contracts or civil union entered between persons of same gender are invalid and shall not be recognised as entitled to the benefits of a valid marriage,” and the provision that “marriage or civil union entered between persons of same gender shall not be solemnised in any place of worship either church, mosque or any place in Nigeria.”

Guardian Newspaper