Leon Usigbe and Tordue Salem
10 October 2008
SPEAKER of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, yesterday named new chairmen of the House's Standing Committees, sparking troubles from some members who felt they were not well taken care of. The committees increased to 84 from the former 72.
Also yesterday, the long-awaited report of the Power and Steel Committee on the alleged wastage of over $16 billion power funds during the last administration was laid before the House for consideration.
Prominent among the committee chairmen are: Mr. Ndudi Elumelu who retained his seat on the Power Committee; Mr. Lawan Farouk - Education; Mr. John Enong - Finance; and Mr. Dino Melaye - Information.
Although the Speaker had tried to rationalise the mode of appointment of the committee chairmen, many members were unimpressed. They insisted they had not been properly placed in the exercise.
At least two members, Chinyere Igwe (Port Harcourt II, Rivers State) and Mr. Hembe Herman (Konshisha/Vandeikya, Benue State) stormed the Speaker's office moments after the announcement to register their displeasure over the posts given to them.
Igwe was named deputy chairman of the Committee on Human Rights while Hembe also got the deputy position of the House Committee on Donor Agencies. Both committees are headed by women.
Similarly, a member of the House from Edo State accused the Speaker of using the positions to "settle those he thought fought for him. I did not fight for him because we were asked to take a position which was political."
He was angry that Edo State had been schemed out from the chairmanship of the House Committee on Interior which was occupied by Rep. Ehiogie West Idahosa. It was ceded to another state, leaving Edo State with just the newly created position of Special Duties given to Rep. Samson Osagie (Orhionwhon/Uhumode Constituency of the state).
Some members from the South-South also expressed their displeasure at the outcome of the selection which they said was unfavourable.
But Speaker Bankole defended the selection, saying it was done with all sense of fairness.
He said: "Dear colleagues, we are not all geniuses and we are not all fools. That means there will be winners and there will be losers. At the end of the day, I believe the House of Representatives will be the winner. That is the institution we represent.
"We did this exercise with all sense of fair play. These are the statistics: nine percent of the chairmen were dropped, 27 percent are brand new, 50 per cent were reshuffled from one seat to the other, 60% were returned but not necessarily in the committees they were before.
"We have come together in all fairness to say that there should be no total change in order to further unite the House. All members have been united in the last 10 months with Nigeria as their agenda," he noted.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Committee on Power and Steel has submitted an eight-volume report with over 20 compact discs before the House.
The Committee had, between February and May, investigated the $16 billion allegedly spent on the power sector "without commensurate results" by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration.
The presentation of the report came barely a day after the House summarily considered a report of the Ethics and Privilege Committee on a N100 million bribery allegation against the Power Committee.
The report was presented by the Chairman of the House Committee on Power and Steel, Rep. Ndudi Elumelu who retained his chairmanship position.
A breakdown of the report showed that volume one contains the main report which has the operational processes, findings, summary of recommendations and conclusions while volumes two, three and four contain appendices, status reports of NIPP projects as well as the status of PHCN projects.
Volumes five, six, seven and eight contain status of NNPC Joint Venture Power Projects, status reports on PHCN Host Generation and Legacy Plants (re-powering and Rehabilitation) projects, overview Report of REA Projects and Album of picture images of some ailing or failed projects.
S/NO COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN DEPUTY
1. RULES HON. ITA ENANG HON. HASIMU ABDULLAHI
2 HOUSE SERVICE HON. MOHAMMED ALMAKURA HON. ALIYU DIKKO
3. PUIBLIC PETITION HON. C.ID MMADUABUM HON. AJATA
4. PUBLIC ACCOUNT HON. USMAN ADAMU HON. UCHE .O
5. ETHICS HON. SANI SALE HON. JAHN KALIPA
6 MEDIA HON. ESEME EYIBO HON. DANBATTA
7 AGRICULTURE HON. GBENGA MAKANJUALA HON. IKE CHINWO
8 AIDS AND LOANS HON. ABDULAZIZ YARI HON. FRIDAY ITULAH
9 AIRFORCE HON. HALIMS AGODA HON. POSITIVE I H
10 ANTI CORRUPTION HON. SABO NAKUDU HON. ASITA HON
11 APPROPRIATION HON. AYO ADESEUN HON. ISA ASHIRU
12 ARMY HON. SHETIMA SHEHU HON. OMEGARA
13 AVIATION HON. BETHEL AMADI HON. SANI ABDU
14 CAPITAL MARKET HON. AHMED A. WADADA HON. MAIFATA
15 COMMERCE HON. GILBERT NNAJI HON. GALADIMA YAU
16 COMMUNICATION HON. DAVE SALAKO HON. KHADIJA
17 CO-OPERATION & INT. IN AFRICA HON. INDEPENDENCE OGUNEWE HON. ODEBUNMI
18 CUSTOMS HON. YAKUBU DOGARA HON. ADESIDA
19 DEFENCE HON. WOLE OKE HON. PAUL ADAH
20 DRUGS & NARCOTICS HON. RABE NASIR HON. BASSEY ETIM
21 EDUCATION HON. FAROUK LAWAN HON. JOLAOYE GEORGE
22 ELECTORAL MATTERS HON. MUSA S ADAR HON. ABUBAKAR ABUBAKAR
23 EMERGENCY HON. LEO AWOYEMI HON. WARMAN W. OGORIBA
24 ENVIRONMENT HON. DURO FASEYI HON. IBRAHIM BAKA
25 FCT HON. ATAI AIDOKO ALI HON. ERNEST E.
26 FCT AREA HON. DAVID IDOKO HON. ALEX UKAM
27 FINANCE HON. JOHN ENOH HON. LEO DELLAN
28 FOREIGN AFFAIRS HON. UMARU BATURE HON. TATA OMAR
29 GAS HON. IGO AGUMA HON. CHINEYE IYKE
30 GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS HON. LEO OGOR HON. ISA S.S BELLO
31 HEALTH HON. ALABA OJOMO HON. HALIMA HASSAN
32 HIV & AIDS HON. OLAKUNDE HON. A.K SALIU
33 INFORMATION HON. DINO MELAYE HON. MUSTAPHA HABU
34 INTERPARLIAMENTARY HON. SADA SOLI HON. STANLEY OHAJURUKA
35 JUDICIARY HON. BALA IBN NA'ALLAH HON. MULIKAT ADEOLA
36 JUSTICE HON. HENRY DICKSON HON. PATRICK IHIA
37 INDUSTRIES HON. SOLOMON AGIDAN HON. EPKERIKPE EKPO
38 INTERRIOR HON. JERRY MANWE HON. MRS. MAIMUNAT ADAJI
39 LABOUR HON. ADO DOGO AUDU HON.----------------------------
40 LAND TRANSPORT HON. BERNARD UDOH HON. M.C TAHIR
41 LEGIS BUDGET HON. FASHINRO H.B HON. GEORGE FADR NWOSU
42 MARINE HON. IFEANYI UGWUANYI HON. ADAMU KALBA
43 MDGS HON. SAUDATTU SANI HON. ARIBISALA WALE
44 NATIONAL PLANNING HON. SAM EGYA HON. LINUS UMOH
45 NATIONAL SECURITY HON. BALA ALMU BANYA HON. OLUSEGUN AKINLOYE
46 NAVY HON. BASHIR ADAMU HON. TAYO FAWEHINMI
47 NDDC HON. NICHOLAS MUTU HON. ADO DOGUWA
48 PENSION HON. ADEWUSI BABATUNDE HON. JESEPH GAMBARI
49 PET. RES. DOWN STREAM HON. CLEVER IKISIKPO HON. ARO SAMUEL BAMIDELE
50 PET. UPSPREAM HON. BASSEY OTU HON. JIME EMMANUEL
51 POLICE AFFAIRS HON. ABDUL NINGI HON. OFOR CHUKWUEGBO
52 POVERTY ALLEVIATION HON. TONY MADWATE HON. RUFUS OMEIRE
53 POWER HON. NDUDI ELUMELU HON. MOH'D JIBO
54 PRIVITISATION HON. NJIDDA GELLA HON. ABBAS BRAIMOH
55. PUBLIC SERVICE HON. EMMANUEL DEYA HON. AMINU HAMMAN RIBADU
56. RURAL DEVELOPMENT HON.--------------------------- HON.LANRE AGORO
57. SCIENCE & TECH HON. AKINLADE ABIODUN .I. HON. IBRAHIM KHAJID
58. SOLID MINERALS HON. YAKUBU BARDE HON. FANCY AROLE
59. SPECIAL DUTIES HON. OSAGIE SAMSON HON. NELSON BELIEF
60. SPORTS HON. BELLO SULAIMAN HON. GBENGA ELEGBELEYE
61. STATES & LOCAL GOVT HON. OMOTAYO ADEDEJI HON. UBALE JEKANDA
62. CULTURE & TOURISM HON. KGB OGUAKWA HON.ISA DOBI
63. WATER RESOURCES HON. TERNGU TSEGBA HON. JOHNSON ABOLAGBA
64. WOMEN AFFAIRS HON. BINTA MASI GARBA HON. RASAKI FATI
65. WORKS HON. CHUMA NZERIBE HON. KABIRU JALO
66. YOUTH & SOCIAL HON. DEPO OYEDOKUN HON. NASIRU GARO
67. LEGISLATIVE COMPLIANCE HON. DAEMI AKPANA HON. AUSTIN ADIKPE
68. INTER & INTRA HON. GBENGA ODUWAIYE HON. DEMNEGE ALAAGA
69. DUE PROCESS HON. YUSUF TUGAR HON. JUMOKE OKOYA-THOMAS
70. HUMAN RIGHTS HON. BENI LAR HON. CHINYERE EMMA IGWE
71. FEDERAL CHARACTER HON. ISA KWARA HON. MIKAIL AL-AMIN.B.
72. STEEL HON. AMINU SHAGARI HON. MAYOR EZE
73. DONOR HON. NNENA UKEJE HON. HEMBE HERMAN I
74. DIASPORA HON. ABIKE EREWA ----------------------------------------
75. POPULATION HON. JAMES BAITHACHI HON. BOLARINWA BASHIRU
76. CONSTITUENCY OUTREACH HON. ISIAKA BAWA HON. IBRAHIM GARBA
77. URBAN DEVELOPMENT HON. E.N FARUK HON. MUDASHIRU AKINLABI
78. MIN. NIGER-DELTA HON.-------------------------- HON. GBENGA ONIGBOGI
79. INTERNAL SECURITY HON. ABBA LAWAN HON. JULIET AKANO
80. CLIMATE HON. EZIUCHE UBANI HON. BITRUS KAZE
81. LAKE CHAD HON. AHMED SALIK HON. MOH'D SANNI
82. BANKING&CURRENCY HON. OGBUEFI OZOMBGACHI HON. MS
83. WOMEN PARLIAMENT HON. LINDA IKPEAZU HON. NKIRUKA ONYEJEOCHA
84. HOUSING HON. GARBA SHEHU MATAZU HON. KAYODE AMUSAN
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