Ben Peters, Abuja
Dr. Samson Osagie, a former minority whip of the House of Representatives and Abuja based lawyer on Tuesday challenged members elect of the 10th National Assembly to utilize their oversight functions to ensure that Treaties that are of immense benefits to Nigeria.
Osagie was among the resource persons that spoke at the five day Induction programme organized by the National Assembly in collaboration with the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies for newly elected Honourable Members of the House of Representatives and Senators at the International Conference Centre Abuja.
He spoke on the theme: Foreign Policy and Domestication of Treaties: The Role of the National Assembly.
Dr Osagie, who was also a member and Minority Whip of the House of Representatives in the Sixth and seventh National Assembly, posited that even though issues of Foreign Policy formulation are within the domain of executive branch of government, Section 12 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999(as amended) empowers the National Assembly to enact laws to incorporate Treaties already entered into by Nigeria before such Treaties can become enforceable in Nigeria.
He urged the National Assembly to utilize their oversight functions to ensure that Treaties that are of immense benefits to Nigeria like the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, Double Taxation Agreements with several countries, etc are immediately domesticated so that the country can begin to derive their benefits for economic development.
Dr Samson Osagie is also the Chairman of the African Bar Association and an Adjunct Lecturer at the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies,Abuja Nigeria