- Speaker created 24 new committees in the 360-member House
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, on Thursday, constituted the standing committees of the House.
Mr Abbas, however, increased the number of the committees to 134 committees from 110 constituted by his predecessor, Femi Gbajabiamila.
This means, he created 24 new committees in the 360-member House.
Among those named as committee heads are former Deputy Speaker, Idris Wase, Yusuf Gagdi and Musa Betara, all of who aspired to the speakership seat against Mr Abbas some months ago. Messrs Gagdi and Betara later withdrew from the race.
Mr Wase (APC, Plateau) got the chairmanship of the less fancied committee on Federal Character, while Mr Betara (APC, Borno) was appointed the chairman of the committee on Federal Capital Territory.
Mr Gagdi retained the headship of the committee on Navy, which he headed under Mr Gbajabiamila.
Mr Abbas named Abubakar Bichi (APC, Kano) as the chairman of the committee on Appropriations and he is to be deputised by Idu Igariwey (PDP, Ebonyi).
President Bola Tinubu’s political ally, James Faleke (APC, Lagos) retained the chairmanship of finance committee which he headed in the ninth session under Mr Gbajabiamila. Ditto for his deputy, Abdulahi Saidu (APC, Niger).
Mr Faleke, who hails from Kogi State, was the secretary of the Tinubu Campaign Organisation until some months back.
Bamidele Salam (PDP, Osun) is to chair the committee on Public Account while Babajimi Benson (APC, Lagos) retained the committee on defence.
The former Leader of the House, Alhassan Doguwa (APC, Kano), is the new chairman of the committee on petroleum (Upstream).
In his remarks, Abbas said there were no grade ‘A’ or juicy committees.
He added that the status of every chairman was equal, warning that they must carry all the members of the committee along.
He said: “My dear Colleagues, you would recall that the leadership of the House has consistently assured members of its resolve to be fair to all, irrespective of political leanings and affiliations. There are no grade ‘A’ nor the so called ‘juicy committees’ as some erroneously often think. Every committee of the House enjoys equal status, powers and privileges as mere working groups to discharge the mandate given to us by our constituents.
“The committee system, aptly described as little legislatures by Woodrow Wilson, plays a crucial role in legislative bodies worldwide. Indeed, it serves as the fulcrum of the Legislature due to its central role in performing the bulk of legislative responsibilities and tasks. This system involves dividing the Legislature into smaller component units or working groups, which aims to enhance efficiency, improve productivity, facilitate legislative oversight of other branches of government, promote citizens’ participation in legislation, and enable detailed scrutiny of legislative instruments such as Bills and Motions.
“Let me state unequivocally that all members of Committees have equal status and must be carried along as such. Committee Chairmen are only administrative heads who must ensure the involvement of every member in the activities of Committees. The principle of team work should guide our engagements in these committees.
“Committee Chairmen must ensure that there are functional secretariats for their respective committees. This is very crucial as the House is redefining legislative work at the Committees. All Committees are now required to submit regular reports of their activities to the leadership of the House on a quarterly basis. Investigative hearings, public hearings and reports from oversight functions have to be submitted to the House in plenary for further legislative action. Accordingly, the Committees should draw up their workplans and submit same to the Leadership of the House.”
Meanwhile, the House has proceeded on 6 weeks annual vacation and will resumes in September.
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