No fewer than 23 committee have been stripped of their legislative functions over alleged poor performance on 25 bills which passed through second reading and scheduled for public hearing.
The resolution was passed sequel to the adoption of a motion titled:
‘Discharge of committees from referral on bills pursuant to Order 17, Rule 3(1g) of the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives, sponsored by Edward Pwajok, chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business.
However, during the debate the lawmakers traded blames over inadequate funding of the Standing Committees while some principal officers disagreed.
In his lead debate, Pwajok (APC-Plateau) observed that all the bills scaled through second reading separately between 2016 and 2017 and referred to respective committees for legislative actions.
READ ALSO: Nigeria needs aviation sector ready for business
Citing the relevant House rules to back up his submission, Pwajok stated that “any matter referred to any committee shall be treated within 30 days otherwise the committee shall stand discharged after 60 days and the matter committed to the Committee of the Whole for consideration.
Pwajok noted that: “the 8th Assembly has introduced more than 1,500 bills and still counting and we have about seven months left to end this session.
“I do not want what happened in the Seventh Assembly where 40 bills were treated in one week some of these bills were dated as far back as January 2016,” the Plateau lawmaker noted.
In a swift reaction to the motion, Betty Apiafi (PDP-Rivers) who raised a Point of Order accused the leadership of the House of failing to ensure adequate funding of most of the Standing Committees to perform optimally.
Apiafi who doubles as chairman, House Committee on Health Services argued that: “under normal circumstances if expenditure exceed budgets and no adequate funding what happens.”
Piqued by Apiafi’s stance, Femi Gbajabiamila Majority Leader who emphasized the need for strict adherence to the provisions of the Standing Rule of the Lower Chamber, by ensuring accountability in the administration and management of public funds.
“There’s need for us to take House Rules seriously because tax payers’ money is involved in all we do here.
“Even the committee I co-chaired on ‘Estimated Power Billing’ since June this year has not submitted its report I want the Ad-hoc Committee included in the list to be submitted to the Committee of the Whole,” he urged.
On his part, Mohammed Monguno (APC-Borno) also maintained that the allegation bothering on inadequate funding of Standing Committees was unfounded.
Monguno explained that “with all sense of humility I am a fourth timer here and out of the four sessions I chaired committees twice and we had adequate funding all through.
“It’s not correct to say the House leadership is not adequately funding committees at least to the best of my knowledge not my committee,” he submitted.
While ruling on the motion which was supported by majority of the members, Speaker Yakubu Dogara directed that all the bills should be referred to the Committee of the Whole for further legislative action after which it will pass through first reading.
KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja
