Enugu State House of Assembly Thursday passed into law the state’s Schools Transfer Amendment Law Cap.141 revised laws of Enugu State 2004, in regard to the transfer of schools to voluntary agencies such as the church and corporate organisations.

The amended law, which was given an accelerated passage, was an executive bill presented on the floor of the House by the leader, Hon. Ikechukwu Ezeugwu.

Explaining the need for the amendment of the law, Ezeugwu stated that the former executive overstepped their bound and vied into legislative function, which is to make laws for the state. According to him, there are three arms of government – the executive, the legislature and the judiciary – which have their various functions for checks and balances and for proper governance, pointing out that it was not the duty of the executive to make laws. He, however, pointed out that the governor had powers to transfer schools but did not have the powers to determine how they should be run.

Ezeugwu also pointed out that the essence of the amended law was to ensure that the schools were properly managed and that students in the voluntary schools were not burdened with high fees and levies since government is subventing them as well as paying the salaries of the teachers.

Members who contributed to the debate said the law was not a controversial one and suggested that some sections of the law be amended to reflect the realities on ground. According to the member representing Nkanu West constituency, Hon. Desmond Iloabuchi Aniagu, “The essence of the amendment is to make to stand the test of time,” saying that the law hitherto had been obsolete and needed to be amended especially the fines stipulated for offenders.”

The amended law changed the fine for section 3 subsection 4 which made those contravened the laws guiding the transfer of schools from N200 to N200,000 while section 5 sub-section 2b, which had an option of imprisonment of two years or a fine of N600 changed to N500,000 or imprisonment. It would be recalled that the law enacted in 2004 was in September 2009 tampered with by the former executive that gave guidelines on how the missionary schools should be run, instead of allowing the legislature to make the directive through legislation. (Nigerian Pilot)

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