The House of Representatives seeks to raise the penalty for defacing the Nigerian flag from N100 to N100,000.
News360 Info reports that the House approved a bill presented by Sada Soli to modify the Flag and Coats of Arms Act for a second reading following discussions and agreement among the lawmakers on Wednesday.
The Act, which prohibits the defacing or improper handling of the National Flag, is being revisited with proposed amendments to section 4, increasing fines for individual violators from N100 to N100,000, while organisations could face a N1 million fine.
The proposed amendment states, “An individual found guilty will be liable to a fine of one hundred thousand naira (N100,000), and in the case of a Corporate Organization, the fine will be one million naira (N1,000,000).
“In the case of a continuing offence, the fine will be twenty thousand naira (N20,000) per day for an individual and N100,000 (one hundred thousand) per day for a Corporate Organization.”
Addressing the bill, Soli remarked that Nigerians and organisations commonly deface the flag without consequences, highlighting the insufficiency of the existing law to curb such abuse.
The motion sailed through without opposition and was promptly referred to relevant committees for further action.
