Breaking: Senate Look Into Bills To Battle Poverty, IP Theft

BY: Mohammed O. Taoheed

The Senate have considered two vital bills seeking to tackle poverty and curb the intellectual property theft in the federation.

TrackNews Nigeria covers that one of the proposed laws contains the establishment of the National Poverty Alleviation Management Commission; while the other seeks to re-enact the Patent and Design Act 2021 to revise the existing intellectual property law to curb theft.

Our Correspondent, Mr. Mohammed Oluwatimileyin Taoheed, says both bills scaled second reading during plenary.

As sponsored by Senator Kabir Abdullahi Barkiya (APC Katsina Central), the penury bill seeks to empower the Commission to control and regulate all forms of poverty elimination funds.

Leading debate on the general principles of the bill, Barkiya told the House that its passage and assent into law, “will have tremendous and vital impact on the reduction of poverty level, ravaging the majority of citizens in the country.”

As said by the legislator, this includes the poor and their families who find it difficult to feed themselves.

He gave that the proper and efficient management of poverty alleviation funds through sufficient regulation would greatly cut down on the poverty rate in Nigeria.

“It is imperative to note, that the passage of this bill will effectively and efficiently regulate all forms of funds provided to alleviate poverty in the land, especially to remedy the suffering of our citizens.

“This aforementioned fund could be granted by the government, or international and local donations in order to minimise the high level of hardship that people go through within the country”,

Similarly, Senator Christopher Ekpenyong (PDP Akwa-Ibom North West), described the bill as “bi-partisan” but lamented that resources allocated for poverty alleviation most times do not get to the needy because of mismanagement.

He noted that having a Commission in place as intended by the bill would see to the realisation of the objectives of the federal government in the aspect of poverty reduction.

Meanwhile, Senator Ibrahim Gobir (APC Sokoto East) reminded that a similar bill was passed under the eighth senate but could not get presidential assent then

Thus, he urged the President to sign the bill into law, saying that putting in place management models to determine the rate of the impact made through policies aimed at poverty alleviation would, to a large extent, complement the bill.

The bill after consideration was referred by the Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, to the Committee on Poverty Alleviation for further input with the committee given four weeks to report back.

In a similar development, another bill seeking to review the nation’s intellectual property law lifted up for second reading.

The bill titled is: “Patent and Design Act 2004 (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill, 2021″ was sponsored by Senator Ibikunle Amosun (APC Ogun Central).

In his words, the bill seeks to protect intellectual property rights by setting up a framework for civil/judicial procedures.

He claimed that upon passage and assent into law, the same would give Nigeria the chance as a member of the International Union for the Protection of Industrial Property, to secure maximum merits from being part of the Patent Co-operation Treaty, 1970, to which it is a signatory.

TrackNews Nigeria gathered that the bill after consideration was referred by the Senate President to the Committee on Trade and Investment and the committee was also given four weeks to report back to the Senate in plenary.