A cross section of members of the 10th House of Representatives led by Hon. Ugochinyere Ikeagwuonu under the aegis of ‘Like Minds’ on Friday averred that Speaker Tajudeen Abbas carried all interest groups along in the decision that led to the composition of the Principal Officers and Chairmanship of the 134 Standing Committees.
Hon. Ikeagwuonu who disclosed this during a press briefing at the National Assembly complex, Abuja, was flanked by the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Speaker, Hon. Dunkwu Chamberlain and four other lawmakers, also urged Nigerians to ensure the current hardship caused by the removal of fuel subsidy.
Hon. Ikeagwuonu who was appointed as Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) argued that the composition of the Standing Committees cuts across different interests, including those who fought him, or those who didn’t even agree with him.
He observed that the House had since inauguration passed through First Reading over 300 bills, over 300 motions during the period under review as well as set up numerous Ad-hoc Committees that their essence is for good governance and protection of the interests of the people.
He also noted that the House resolved to accelerate the passage of the palliative request of President on the N500 billion out of which N70 billion was approved for the National Assembly, N35 billion for the Judiciary with a view to “alleviate the sufferings that Nigerians are going through with your removal of the subsidy regime.”
According to him, “the highlight of the conclusion of that session was the inauguration of the Standing committee and in parliament, committees are very essence in aiding the work of the parliament. When people work in mini groups, they will be able to deliver on State Legislative agenda. And before that inauguration, we also come up with the legislative agenda, which focuses on people interest legislation, building a people’s parliament. That is the focus of the Abbas and Benjamin Kalu leadership.
“And as you are also aware, we have selected our principal officers, which enjoy the unanimous support of members across all party line. And yesterday event like the climax but it’s just the beginning of our work. And I can tell you authoritatively on behalf of my colleagues that are represented here that Abbas carries a heavy burden and what is that heavy burden? Balance in the interests of members of different political caucuses, different tribes, different religion, competence and so on and so forth.
“But I want to tell you authoritatively that h delivered very well. And what do I mean by that? He was able to marry all these interests to ensure that different interests are well-respected and represented in the composition, it was not an easy assignment. And you need to also understand that whether you like it or not, everybody cannot be chairman and Deputy at the same time.
“And that is not the end of your parliamentary works, there are other Ad-hoc Committee, there is friendship committees, there’s other avenues for people to contribute to the legislative growth of the country, and that opportunity he assured us from the beginning and from what he has done he has started living up to those expectations.
“So, majority of members in this Parliament are commending the leadership of the 10th House of Representatives led by Tajudeen Abbas and Benjamin Kalu for being able to carry all interests along in the decision that led to the composition of the principal officers and chairmanship of the standing committee. So, the parliament is now more united than ever.
“You saw a composition that cuts across different interests, including those who fought him, or those who didn’t even agree with him. There was no winner, there was no Victor, there was no vanquish. You can see that the main challengers Betara was given Federal Capital Development Authority (FCT), you can see Wase was chairman of Federal Character Commission, you can see Gagdi was made chairman of Navy. You can see Jaji was made chairman of Ecological Fund. You can see Princess Miriam Onuoha was made chairman of TetFund. You can see Doguwa was made by chairman of Petroleum Resources (Upstream).
“Even those who ran for Deputy Speaker, all adequately represented. Those who even are frontline supporters of our colleagues who have those aspirations were also adequately represented, key supporters of Betara, key supporters of Miriam, key supporters of Jaji, key supporters of Ado-Doguwa were all represented and they are chairmen of committees. So, that has shown the kind of man that Abbas and Benjamin Kalu. They are people who does not draw a line, who see Parliament as one.
“So, the composition is a reflection of the one Parliament that they promised us. Focusing on delivering on people’s interest driven legislations and that is why you can see the unity, the oneness. That all is set for the full business of parliament by the time we come back in six weeks’ time.
“And also, we want to urge Nigerians to help to de-overdramatization, overclassification of these committees, as you say is a business. These are for national responsibility; it’s not about making money or anything. So, the over- commercialization and reporting or classification, or this is B or C? Somebody that is in D, it depends on what you mean by D is all about the capacity and you can also turn it around to what you people are calling A.
“So, there’s no need to between those markings which used to be creating the wrong media impression. All committees are equal, all members are equal, whether you are chairman or Deputy. Remember that all of us were legitimately elected by our people for the sole purpose of representing are different constituencies, so, all of us are equal.
“It’s an opportunity to do more work. Every member has the same capacity, the same function with the Chairman. You are just an administrative figure you are to coordinate in a group of 40 people. So, the Parliament is united, the Parliament is focused and everybody is supportive of Tajudeen Abbas and Benjamin Kalu and working together, we are going to deliver on people interest driven legislations,” Hon. Ikeagwuonu told Parliamentary Correspondents.
On his part, Deputy Chairman, House Committee on NDDC, Hon. Jafaru Leko disclosed that the Speaker instructed all the members “to work as a family and you know in Parliament as he rightly pointed out, there is no Committee that is better than another committee, it depends on who is managing the Committee.”
While noting that the Speaker had fulfilled his promise to all the members, he maintained that: “from inception he promised to take everybody along, everybody as a family, and he displayed exactly that yesterday. Everybody has been taken care of everybody, irrespective of Political party.
“It is the first time the ruling party and the opposition party take the same number of Chairman and deputies. And we are so glad and the 10th Assembly is so glad for this kind of style of leadership. Everybody is happy. He doesn’t care whether initially you are not in support of him or not. What he always said, is that, he knows that 353 persons vote for him and he must accommodate everybody.
“Yesterday in my presence, even those that we think they are not too comfortable, he (Abbas) said the House is too large and I believe he’s going to do something. And I don’t think it has never been like this, the history of National Assembly whereby, everybody has been taking care of adequately, irrespective of political party.
“If you look at the selection of leadership is perfect, and we’re happy and what we’ll do continue to support. We’ll continue to pray for him because we believe in him that is why we supported him and we will continue to do just that by the grace of God and we want to assure you by the grace of God, the 10th Assembly will change their narratives.
“We know what Nigerians are going through and you can see from the onset, when the President’s request came, we didn’t even waste up to 20-minute to approve it because the heading said it’s palliative for Nigerians, not for the vulnerable, for subsidy.
“So, you know, the heading touched our hearts, and that is why we didn’t take time, whatever that will bring down this hardship, that is our concern and we will continue to just do that by the grace of God, the 10th Assembly is going to be a different Assembly, it’s going to change the narrative and we know what our people are going through and we are with our people. We make sure that the Mr. President agenda of renewed hope is actually achieved.”
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