Legal Practitioner Calls for Implementation Of WAEC Act

AUCHI- A legal practitioner in Edo State, Barr. Anthony Atemoagbo has urged the Federal Government to concentrate more on implementation of the existing WAEC Act to ensure that suspects are actually convicted and not necessarily raising the fine.

The observation is coming on the heels of the current move by the House of Representatives seeking to amend the Act to raise the fine from N2,000 to N200,000 on conviction.

Barr. Atemoagbo who is the immediate past Chairman, Nigeria Barr, Association (NBA) Auchi chapter while exchanging view with our correspondent in Auchi argued that the magnitude of the fine was not the problem but ensuring the applicability of the law to reflect the deserved stigma on the convicts so as to serve as deterrent.

He noted that on conviction, the culprits reputation was already at stake as employers of labour and the public would then be scared to engage such a person.

Atemoagbo explained that the most important consideration was to ensure that culprits are convicted and not raising the fine as being proposed by the House of Representatives, as the average Nigerian would always be able to pay the fine.

According to him, if for example, the law provides that a convict should not get recognition either in employment or otherwise for a period of say ten years, that is sufficient stigma”.

The former NBA Chairman therefore cautioned the nations leaders to be morally up right in their dealings and against indiscriminate granting of amnesty to persons of questionable character, saying that this would not help the system in the search for a decent society.

The legal practitioner noted that even if the conviction is underplayed right thinking members of public would always be there to take record of the stigma

Source: nigerianobserver