Senate committees on Communication, Judiciary and National Security have been asked to commence legislative activities on a bill that will empower relevant national chief security officers to intercept, for overriding public interest, any communication that could be prejudicial to national security. The decision was taken by the Senate following the senators’ approval to a bill sponsored by Senator Isa Galaudu (Kebbi North) titled ‘an act to provide for the interception, development and protection of communication networks and facilities for public interest and other related matters.’ The bill, which has passed through second reading on the floor of the senate, will specifically empower the “National Security Agency, State Security Services and the Police, among others, to intercept communication prejudicial to national security for public interest” Leading the debate on the bill, Galaudu said it would assist, simplify and facilitate the role of national security agencies in tracking terrorism, crime against national security or human dignity, using communication or telecommunication services He said, “The bill seeks to prohibit the manufacturing, assembling, processing, selling, purchasing or advertising of certain equipment illegally used as interception devices and also protect the interest of communication users through prohibition of interception and provide circumstances under which interception may be permitted for public interest”. “It is, however, pertinent to note that the bill strengthens the terrorism prevention act which empowers the Attorney-General of the Federation, the National Security Adviser or the Inspector General of Police to acquire information relating to terrorist groups and terrorist acts and conduct investigations or search with or without warrant to prevent or establish a crime of terrorism in Nigeria.” However, Senator Atai Aidoki-Ali, in his contribution, expressed the fear that the bill could be abused by government officials to witch-hunt the opposition. “This will be an opportunity for government to witch-hunt the opposition without court order and the bill portends some sort of danger,” he said. He noted that the bill was not clear enough and suggested that it should be further simplified. But the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, noted that since the nation was passing through unusual circumstances in terms of national security, “unusual methods should be used to tackle the problems” “The security and protection of our citizens is paramount; this is the major aspect of the bill. It is also important to stop people using devices to intercept people’s calls. I think with this bill, illegal interception of calls will be reduced to minimal level,” he said. posted on September 23, 2013 at 12:17AM jtnng.blogspot/
Posted on: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 23:58:43 +0000
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