President Muhammadu Buhari is set to seek emergency powers from the National Assembly to push his planned stimulus for the economy. While the emotive term ‘emergency powers’ may ring alarm bells, the presidency maintains that the move is strictly with the aim of creating more jobs, boosting of foreign reserves, reviving the manufacturing sector and improving power supply. An executive bill titled: “Emergency Economic Stabilisation Bill 2016” is to be presented to the National Assembly when the Senate and the House of Representatives resume from vacation on the 12th of September. For example, the procurement law which does not allow contract awards earlier than six months after decision, can be bypassed with ’emergency powers’ in order to fast track projects. Similar to the aforementioned policy, ‘emergency powers’ can be susceptible to capture.

Source: The North Africa Journal August 22, 2016 14:59 UTC