Senate dumps Bill on private investigators

IGNATIUS OKOROCHA, Abuja

Senate on Wednesday stood down a bill for an Act to prescribe standards and conditions of licence for the operation and practice of private investigations in the country.

The piece of legislation, sponsored by Senator Osita Ngwu (PDP Enugu West) was rejected by the majority of lawmakers during a debate on the floor of the Red Chamber.

Earlier in his lead debate, Senator Ngwu, who is the Senate Minority Whip, said the bill seeks amongst others, to provide a framework for the licencing and practice of private investigators in the country.

He added that it also seeks to provide for a system of regulation, control and conduct of the practice so as to maintain professional standards.

According to him, the practice of private investigators is well established in countries like the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and Canada.

Senator Ngwu noted that while some private investigators are former law enforcement agents, others are former military and intelligence personnel.

The modern trend across the globe, he added, is the need to have them licenced so as to maintain ethical standards.

“The objectives of the Bill include fraud prevention, detection, assessment and resolution; corporate fraud and risk management services; insurance fraud and claims investigation; aviation accident and loss investigation; marine loss investigation; occupational health and safety incident investigation; and witness location and bail bond defaulters; etc.

“The Bill defines the scope of the profession; ensures standards; provides penalty for professional negligence; prescribes offences for operation without licence and encourages industry-based training to maintain capacity.

“The Bill essentially seeks to professionalise the industry and has no financial implication,” he said.

However, during the debate on the bill, while the Senate Deputy Minority Leader, Senator Olalere Oyewumi and  Senator Victor Umeh supported the bill, others like Senators Adams Oshiomhole, Iya Abbas, Mustapha Saliu, etc kicked against it, describing it as a recipe for a personal fight.

Apparently flowing with the mood of the Senators, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, called on the sponsor of the bill, to withdraw it for further legislative inputs, which he hurriedly did.

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