Conference Recommends Death for Rapists, Corrupt Person

Except otherwise decided, henceforth, judicial officers convicted of

corruption or perversion of justice will be liable to 50 years in prison

and loss of all official entitlement including gratuity and pensions

without an option of fine.
 
The National Conference sitting in Abuja said on Thursday that the

decision was based on the examples of some Asian countries where the

enactment of such laws helped to restore sanity, reduce corruption, abuse

of office, instill due process and the rule of law.

 
Still on corruption, Conference resolved that legislation be enacted by

the Federal Government that would stipulate life imprisonment for anyone

found guilty of stealing pension and any public fund.

 
These resolutions followed thorough consideration of the Report of the

Committee on Civil Society, Labour, Youth and Sports headed by Mrs. Bola

Ogunrinade and Comrade Issa Aremu as deputy chairman.

 
Conference equally resolved that a law be enacted by the Federal

Government to provide for life imprisonment with hard labour for any

person convicted of rape; while other laws should be enacted to

criminalise the use of children for child labour and for alms.

 
It was also resolved that henceforth, any group of workers that remain on

strike for more than four weeks shall not be entitled to and not be paid

salary for the period and any other time after the four weeks.

 
To revive the education sector, Conference proposed 26% allocation for

education in annual law at the federal, state and local government levels.

 
It is believed that with such increased allocation, the ailing educational

system would be revived and sustained.
 
Conference also agreed that government provides an intervention fund as a

matter of priority to revitalize abandoned skill acquisition and

vocational training centres throughout the country.

 
To boost employment in the country, delegates resolved that athe National

Directorate for Employment (NDE), the Small and Medium Enterprises

Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), the Community Services Women, and

Youth Employment Project (CSWYE) and Graduates Internship Scheme be merged

into a single national job creation agency.
 
Conference in taking the decision, said this would lead to a coordinated

job creation approach.
 
Conference observed the growing incidence of casualization in the economy

that is driven in part by employers' penchant to cut cost and enhance

profitability.
 
It said currently, most employers of labour do not respect the legal

provision that after six months of work, the casual workers must be

permanently employed.
 
To circumvent this law, such employers resort to terminating the

appointment of employees after a couple of months and then quickly

re-engaging them on a fresh contract.
 
It was therefore resolved that all multinational companies and government

agencies that have employed casual workers for more then six months should

be mandated to take immediate steps to convert them to permanent workers.

 
On the National Youth Service Corps, Conference said it should be split

into three phases for it to be repositioned for relevant youth

empowerment.
 
It said the first phase will be a one month orientation; followed by six

months of primary assignment, integration and industrial exposure; and

lastly, five months of vocational and entrepreneurial skill acquisition.