Barring last-minute changes, the House of Representatives will on Tuesday resume sectoral debate on the financial sector.
Recall that the Speaker, Hon Tajudeen Abbas during the welcome address from the Christmas/New Year recess gave insight into the sectoral briefing with various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
He said: “Honourable colleagues, as noted earlier, the state of the economy is also of grave concern to us, and we must contribute to promoting sustainable economic growth. Our agenda has identified concrete measures for economic restructuring, economic diversification, and agricultural development.
“All committees are directed to streamline their activities towards the realisation of our strategic objectives. The Committee on the Implementation of Legislative Agenda and the Committee on Monitoring and Evaluation of the activities of standing and ad hoc committees should ensure that committees and their outputs are in line with the agenda of the House.
“In this regard, I am pleased to announce that house sectoral briefs with MDAs will resume immediately. Accordingly, we shall engage with MDAs and principal actors in the finance sector on Tuesday, 6th February 2024. This engagement will assess the nation’s readiness to mobilise the necessary financial resources for implementing the budget.”
The Speaker also assured Nigerians of the Assembly’s resolve to prioritise other legislative initiatives by ensuring “speedy consideration of electoral reforms, alteration of the 1999 Constitution, improved citizens’ engagement, enhanced oversight, institutional capacity strengthening, and greater collaboration with the executive.
“Of immediate concern to us are electoral reforms to address grey areas in the 2022 Electoral Act. The purpose is to ensure that future elections are free, fair, and credible elections that truly reflect the people’s will. Recent data shows that 75% of gubernatorial elections conducted by INEC in 2023 ended up in the Supreme Court.
“A significantly higher percentage of gubernatorial, state, and National Assembly elections was litigated to the appellate level. Like all Nigerians, we are worried about the varying and conflicting judicial pronouncements which can disrupt our democratic process if not properly and swiftly addressed.
“For this reason, the House will constitute a special technical committee with members drawn from the committee on electoral matters, experts, academics and other stakeholders.
The mandate of the committee will be to review the Electoral Act 2022 and submit a proposal to the House on areas for amendment. The report of the committee will be subjected to a public hearing to aggregate concrete suggestions for amendment.
In the area of constitutional alteration, our agenda identifies key areas of interest for the House, including streamlining the procedure for constitutional alteration by enacting a Constitutional Alteration Procedure law to provide a timeline for the passage of the Constitution alteration bills by the National Assembly and adoption by State Houses of Assembly.
“We remain committed to continuing consultation towards assigning constitutional roles for traditional institutions, local government reform and statutory measures that promote women’s representation in elective and appointive positions,” he noted.
Abbas who affirmed that improved citizens’ engagement is vital for fostering a participatory democracy, pledged the House’s resolve to “enhance avenues for citizens to engage with the legislative process actively, provide input on policy decisions, and hold their representatives accountable. In line with item 5 of our legislative agenda, the House will conduct a ‘Legislative Open Week’ to enable Nigerians to engage us in the work that we do.”
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