Events in the House of Representatives are often eventful. It was particularly so in the last legislative week as the Speaker, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila strove to quell the pent-up angst among members across party lines, over the renewed call for the President Muhammadu Buhari to step up his game in addressing security challenges ravaging the country. Senators and members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus had, during a press briefing, expressed a grave concern over various allegations leveled against the Buhari administration, especially on the spate of killings and the seeming complacency in tackling the menace. Against this background, the House Minority Leader, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, claimed that some aggrieved members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) had expressed their intention to defect to the opposition PDP. The pronouncement triggered hoopla, with some members of the Body of the Principal Officers, specifically the Deputy Speaker, Honourable Idris Wase; Majority Leader, Honourable Ado Doguwa and another member, Honourable Sada Soli accusing the PDP chieftains of promoting falsehood.
The PDP lawmakers, who rose from an emergency meeting held at the National Assembly, stated that they were taking a judicial notice” of alleged constitutional breaches by President Buhari, threatening to explore every constitutional option to ensure all the breaches were addressed, at the right time. Mr President was accused of absence from duty despite security challenges affecting every part of the country; ineptitude and the inability of the APC-led government to arrest the drift to anarchy of our nation at this time; undue silence despite the daily killings of unimaginable proportions. The lawmakers also put all Nigerians and the international community on notice over alleged “threats to the lives of our members, to those who come out to say things that are true about the state of Nigeria today, and these threats have come in various forms, including threat to life.”
The outburst of the opposition lawmakers coincided with the security alert issued by law enforcement agencies on purported terrorists’ attacks on public institutions across the nation’s capital city, including the National Assembly. Several security-related resolutions were passed after the adoption motions sponsored by concerned members of the Parliament over the incessant killings in Benue and Niger states. The sponsor of the motion, Honourable Shehu Saleh Rijau, alleged that the bandits were transported through a helicopter, which also provided cover for them after operations.
Going by similar dreadful reports on security challenges, the House during plenary, urged the Federal Government to suspend the proposed 2021 population and housing census. The lawmakers warned that posting enumerators or Ad-hoc staff to volatile areas in the name of conducting census was irrational and ominous. While noting that the past census conducted had yielded-controversial statistics, due to partial coverage of the actual population of the country, the House urged the government to find a lasting solution to the killings, kidnapping and other criminal activities tormenting the nation. As part of its interventions, the 40-man Special Committee on National Security chaired by the Speaker, Honourable Gbajabiamila is expected to hold a four-day security summit.
The Special Committee on National Security also addressed the motion on the kidnapping, sexual assault and killing of the late Iniubong Ephraim Umoren, condemning the act. The House urged the acting Inspector General of Police to immediately take over the investigation and prosecution of the case. In the same vein, the House tasked him to ensure the protection of her family members from harassment, intimidation and harm.
On the economic side, the House passed resolutions for a review of the licences issued to 38 indigenous firms in 2018 to set up modular refineries across the country, as part of efforts to total deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil industry, just it advised the government to develop effective mechanism and strategy to prevent the persistent occurrence and address the menace of capital flight to the tune of $40.7 billion. Similarly, the lawmakers expressed displeasure over the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development report that about $88.6 billion per year leave African continent through money laundering, tax evasion, diverted revenues, offshore investments and other forms of capital flights, with Nigeria accounting for an estimated 46 percent of the total capital flight or $40.7 billion per year. They also expressed concern over the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Bulletin issued in 2015, which showed that the net flow of capital flight from Nigeria from 1986 to 2015 was quite worrisome, with Nigeria allegedly losing over $8.8 trillion.
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