Reps Consider 1810 Bills, 300 Motions, 100 Petitions In 4 Months

The House of Representatives has attended to a total of 1810 bills, 300 motions and 100 petitions since its inauguration in June, making four months.

This was disclosed at the maiden weekly briefing of parliamentary reporters jointly by the House Spokesperson, Hon. Akin Rotimi Jr., the Chairman, Rules and Business Committee, Hon. Francis Waive and Chairman of the Committee on Public Petitions, Hon. Michael Etaba.

The House Spokesperson, highlighted key developments from the Green Chamber in the outgoing week, to include presentation of two key reports on the Legislative Agenda and Amendment of the House Standing Orders by Chairmen of the two respective Ad- hoc Committees saddled with the responsibilities.

According to Rotimi, two new members; Zango Baba Abubakar (Yola North/Yola South/Girei Federal Constituency) and Magaji Jaafar Abubakar (Maiha/Mubi North/Mubi South Federal Constituency) were sworn-in, following recent judgements by the Court of Appeal on their election petitions.

Chairman of the Rules and Business Committee, Hon. Waive, said over 1,800 bills have scaled first reading while 10 pieces of legislation have so far been passed by the House.

He described the passage of the Nigeria Audit Service Bill which repealed the Audit Ordinance of 1956 as one of such landmark bills.

Waive listed a key achievement of his Committee to include innovations in the areas of the Notice and Order Papers in order to enable a seamless distribution process and allow effective contributions by members during plenary.

He lauded the 10th Assembly for its unprecedented feat in the area of motions, noting that over 300 motions sponsored by no fewer than 200 Members have so far been sponsored despite the fact that 80% of the lawmakers are newbies in the federal parliament.

On his part, the Public Petitions Chairman, Hon. Etaba, disclosed that over 100 petitions have been received by his Committee since inauguration and are currently being considered.

He said the petitions bother on allegations of fraudulent practices by public institutions amounting to billions of dollars and one lodged by the Apo Market Traders Association against the Federal Capital Territory Authority (FCTA).

Fielding questions from journalists, the House Spokesman debunked the narrative that the ‘traditional Standing Committees’ were ‘balkanised’ by the Speaker on the basis of political patronage.

Rotimi clarified that the current Committees were constituted in line with present realities in the polity to create the right structure for its envisioned strengthening of oversight functions and to ensure seamless engagement.

Collaborating the position, Hon. Waive said the House Lleadership should be commended for taking a bold step towards carrying members of such a politically diverse parliament along while dismissing the claim that the newly-reformed 70 Parliamentary Friendship Groups were a duplication of both the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and that on Diaspora.