Cold War As Lawmakers Jostle For Chairmanship, Reps Mulls Standing Committee Increase

There is currently intense lobbying and jostling for juicy committees among members of the House of Representatives,  just as the Green Chambers is reportedly planning to increase the number of standing committees.

Following the emergence of the presiding and principal officers of the 10th House, the ‘Selection Committee’ headed by the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, and his Deputy, Benjamin Kalu as Deputy Chairman have to allocate committee chairmanship and membership to lawmakers.

The House of Representatives during the immediate past 9th Assembly had 105 standing committees.

But following the high intensity of jostling and scrambling for committee slots, Daily Trust learned that the leadership of the House is already considering the possibility of increasing the number of committees.

It was learned that members of the ruling and opposition parties are insisting they must be carried along in the selection of chairmen for the various committees of the House because they all worked for the emergence of the Speaker.

Meanwhile, there is a brewing cold war between the new lawmakers who are mainly of the opposition parties, and the old timers mostly from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) over the sharing of juicy committee slots.

Among such juicy committees are Appropriations, Finance, Defence, Army, Navy and Air Force, Police Affairs, National Security and Intelligence, Customs, and Excise; Ports and Harbours, NIMASA, Banking and Currency, Health, Education, Agriculture, Petroleum Resources Upstream/Downstream, Ecological Funds, Public Accounts, amongst others.

Speaking to Daily Trust, a returning lawmaker stated that the new members came in with high expectations as regards committees’ leadership and membership.

According to him, in one of his discussions with some of the new members, it was clear that they have already framed their minds and are eyeing particular committees’ chairmanship or deputies for some of them.

One of the returning lawmakers, Sani Bala (APC, Kano) said the lobby is fiercely intense, adding that the speaker and his deputy are facing a tough task.

He said: “Lobbying is a natural thing in the National Assembly. Even in the United States and other democracies, you will see that there is always lobby.

“However, you know they have the records of all the members and their experiences and the selection committee has the prerogative to allocate chairmanship or membership of committees based on that.

“But, that does not mean that a returning member who had been a member or chairman of a certain committee would still remain in that committee, it is not a guarantee.”

On the number of committees, the lawmaker said, the 9th House had 105 committees, which he said may probably be increased as a result of present needs and agitations.

The speakership candidates that stepped down for the Speaker, Tajuddeen Abbas may get juicy committees’ leadership.

Muktar Betara Aliyu (APC, Borno), who stepped down for the emergence of Tajudeen Abbas, is most likely to retain the chairmanship of the House Committee on Appropriations which he held in the 9th House.

Similarly, Yusuf Gagdi (APC, Plateau), who was one of the speakership aspirants who stepped down for Abbas is most likely to retain the House Committee on Navy which he held during the 9th House, or may be given a new juicy committee to head.