Daily Independent (Lagos)
Festus Owete
10 October 2008
Abuja — Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, on Wednesday urged members to consider the interest of the nation as well as that of the Lower Chamber in their conducts and actions.
Bankole stated this shortly before announcing the composition of 84 special and standing committees of the House, apparently to stem protests that may trail the exercise.
However, protests still trailed the exercise as some legislators rejected their appointments.
Those who rejected their appointments included Herman Hembe (PDP, Benue), who was named deputy chairman of the Committee on Donor Agencies, and Chinyere Igwe (PDP, Rivers), who was named deputy chairman of the Committee on Human Rights.
Igwe, however, denied rejecting the appointment, saying he could not reject an appointment made by the Speaker whom he described as a friend.
Bankole had on July 31 dissolved 66 of the 72 special and standing committees constituted by his predecessor, Patricia Etteh.
The committees were dissolved about five months after he initiated the process to overhaul them.
Thursday's composition increased the number of committees by 12 as against seven earlier approved by the House.
The composition among the parties shows that out of the 84 committees, PDP got 74 chairmanship slots, ANPP seven, and PPA one.
Nine per cent of former chairmen and deputy chairmen were dropped, while 27 per cent are new chairmen and deputies, and 60 per cent were reshuffled.
Six per cent retained their seats as chairmen, but not necessarily of the committees they headed before.
Among those who retained their committee chairmanship slots are Farouk Lawan (Education), John Halims Agoda (Air Force), Terngu Tsegba (Water Resources), Ita Enang (Rules and Business), C.I.D Maduabum (Public Petitions), Ahmed Wadada (Capital Market), Wole Oke (Defence), Musa Adar (Electoral Matters), Leo Ogor (Inter Governmental Affairs), Chuma Nzeribe (Works), Dino Melaye (Information), Njidda Gella (Privatisation), Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi (Banking and Currency), and Godwin Elumelu (Power).
Some of the new chairmen include Abike Dabiri-Erewa (Diaspora), Ahmed Salik (Lake Chad), Linda Ikpeazu (Women Parliament), Yusuf Tuggar (Due Process), Umar Bature (Foreign Affairs), Abdul Ningi (Police Affairs), and Bassey Otu (Petroleum Resources, Upstream).
Some of those who lost their chairmanship seats are Ehiogie West-Idahosa (Interior), Tam Brisbibe (Petroleum Upstream), Titilayo Akindahunsi (House Services), and Florence Akinwale (Ethics and Privileges).
Those who moved to other committees included Eziuche Ubani (from Media to Global Warming and Climate Change), Independence Ogunewe (from Aviation to Co-operation and Integration), Gbenga Oduwaiye (from Foreign Affairs to Intra and Inter-Parliamentary), and Beni Lar (from Women Affairs to Human Rights).
Apparently determined to stem protests against the exercise, Bankole reminded the lawmakers that all members are neither geniuses nor fools, but that in order to maintain unity in the House, members should be satisfied with the composition.
"The exercise of reconstituting the leadership of the House of Representatives committees is now complete.
"We are not all geniuses, neither are we all fools. That basically means that there will be some winners and some losers. At the end of the day, the House of Representatives should be the winner. The institution should be first and foremost the beneficiary," he added.
Asserting that the changes were informed by the need to inject some new blood, Bankole added that in the composition, none of the six zonal caucuses lost out.
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