This tension between the old and new members came to the fore last week when a member, Cyril Hart, accused the Deputy Speaker of the House, Ben Kalu, of favouring old members during plenary sessions.
Agitation for additional state in South-east resurfaces
The move to get an additional state for the South-east region received another boost with the introduction of the Etiti State creation bill on Tuesday during plenary.
The bill, jointly sponsored by Amobi Ogah (LP, Abia), Miriam Onuoha (APC, Imo), Kama Nkemkama (LP, Ebonyi), Chinwe Nnabuife (YPP, Anambra), and Anayo Onwuegbu (LP, Enugu), seeks to amend the constitution by carving out a new state from Abia, Enugu, Anambra, Ebonyi and Imo states.
This proposal came a few weeks after Ikenga Ugochinyere (PDP, Imo) introduced a bill seeking the creation of Orlu State in the same region.
For years, there has been agitation for the creation of additional states in the South-east to give the region the same number as all the other regions, except the North-west. However, there is no consensus on how to create the additional state.
In the past, there were proposals for Orashi State from Imo and Anambra states, including Njaba from the present Imo State, the excision of Aba State from Abia State, and Adada State from Enugu State.
Old members vs new members
Often, division in the Green Chamber follows political party lines or regional affiliations. However, there is now a new division -- returning members vs new members.
While the legislature values seniority (ranking), the new members have one advantage in the current 10th House - numerical strength. Over 70 per cent of the members of the lower chamber of the National Assembly are new.
This tension between the old and new members came to the fore last week when a member, Cyril Hart, accused the Deputy Speaker of the House, Ben Kalu, of favouring old members during deliberations at plenary.
Mr Hart, a Peoples Democratic Party member from Rivers State, confronted Mr Kalu who presided over the session, accusing him of bias during a debate on the floor of the House.
"This is what you always do. You need to allow first-timers to make their contributions," Mr Hart said, as his colleagues cheered him on with applause.
Despite the deputy speaker's explanation, the lawmakers staged a walkout, which obviously embarrassed the presiding officer. It's unclear if any action will be taken against the lawmaker for staging the walkout.
Call for sack of political appointees in security sector
Insecurity once again dominated the debate on the floor of the House last week as the lawmakers spent hours debating the twin bombings that rocked Borno State.
From the debate, it was easy to deduce that the lawmakers are tired of the lingering security challenges in the country.
During the debate, Abdussamad Dasuki, a PDP lawmaker from Sokoto State, asked President Bola Tinubu to take action against his political appointees in the security sector.
He said many of them have failed to deliver despite being from the northern parts of the country.
"In the last year that we got inaugurated into this House, there have been too many incidents. We had a jailbreak; nobody has been sacked. People are killed; nobody has been sacked. It is high time we found somebody responsible.
"The earlier we look for a scapegoat, the better. These guys have not lived up to expectations. Every single day we have a minimum of three security motions and lives are lost. It's high time we came up with a resolution. We have a lot of these resolutions.
"I think more than 50 per cent of the resolutions of the 10th Assembly are security-related. So let's find the culprit. We have our committees that are living up to expectations. They can research this. They can look at those who have not done what is expected of them, and somebody should be held responsible," he said.
Reps panel convenes dialogue on E-Governance Bill
The House of Representatives Committee on Digital and Information Communication Technology is set to hold a hearing on an E-Governance Bill.
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The Chairman of the Committee, Adedeji Olajide (PDP, Oyo), announced the hearing in a statement released on Saturday.
Mr Olajide said the hearing on the bill, which is currently in the two chambers, will be held on Tuesday at the National Assembly Complex.
He stated that the hearing would be a joint effort between the House and Senate Committees on ICT and Cybercrimes.
Transparency and Open NASS
Last week, the House of Representatives held a two-day summit on the open parliament and promoting citizens' engagement in legislative and governance processes.
The summit, held at the National Assembly Complex, had in attendance the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, former Speaker Yakubu Dogara, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited, Mele Kyari, and many others.
With this Open NASS summit, Nigerians would expect their legislators to open the finances of the National Assembly to the public as advised by Mr Dogara.
