by How state caucuses stall Standing Committees inauguration — Speaker Abbas
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas has expressed grave displeasure over the uncooperative gesture of some State Caucuses towards the planned constitution of membership of 137 Standing Committees.
The Speaker who vented his displeasure on Tuesday while delivering the welcome address titled: ‘The 10th House legislative agenda: Time to walk the talk’, observed that the non-responsiveness of the State Caucuses to the earlier directive issued on the submission of names constituted a major setback for the House.
He said: “This is in spite of all the pleas made to us before our recess and assurances received from the State caucuses. As a result, therefore, we are yet to fully populate the Standing Committees of the House.
“Consequently, the House leadership has resolved to make such nominations for States who fail to do so, by Thursday, 28th September, 2023.
“As you make these nominations, kindly be informed of the creation of three additional committees (State and Local Government, Traditional Institutions and Petroleum Resources (Training fund). This brings the total number of House Committees to 137.
“We equally created 13 more Parliamentary Friendship Groups to facilitate and deepen our capacity development and peer learning.
“The leadership of the House has considered that in order to strengthen the capacity of the House, only chairmen and Deputies of the Parliamentary Friendship Groups will constitute membership of the Committees on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora.
“This is done to allow the leaders of the Groups to gain some insight in the management of the Groups from the Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Committees.
“Honourable Colleagues, it is important to emphasize that for the first time in the House of Representatives, a committee on Monitoring and Evaluation was created to supervise the activities of the Standing Committees and advice the Leadership on the performance of the Committees.
“This is in line with our avowed commitment to service delivery. Committees that fail to meet the benchmarks would be reconstituted.
“In the same vein, the leadership has also for the first time created a committee on the implementation of the legislative agenda to ensure adherence and full compliance to the Agenda in our quest to serve Nigerians,” he noted.
Meanwhile, the Speaker had directed all the Ad-hoc Committees to submit their reports on or before Tuesday, 3rd October, 2023.
While acknowledging the work done so far by most of the Ad-hoc Committees, Hon. Abbas said: “The Ad-hoc Committees worked all through the recess in their different areas of mandate and I can report that they have made tremendous progress in the various tasks assigned to them.
“Let me use this opportunity to sincerely thank Members of these committees for the sacrifice, diligence, commitment and dedication that they brought to these important assignments.
“I am aware that most of the Ad-hoc Committees are yet to conclude their Reports. In the light of this development, all Ad-hoc Committees are required to conclude their assignments and submit their reports on or before 3rd of October, 2023.
“Accordingly, all Ad-hoc Committees shall cease to exist on October 3, 2023. However, in an event that any Ad-hoc Committee(s) is unable to conclude its assignment on this date, such tasks shall be yielded to the relevant Standing Committees.”
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