Members of the House of Representatives have intensified lobbying for committees’ appointments just days into the inauguration of the Eighth Assembly.
Findings on Monday indicated that the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, was inundated with a series of requests by members, most of who sought to head specific committees.
Investigations showed that some committees, described as “juicy”, topped the list of interest expressed by the lawmakers.
One National Assembly official said, “What is happening (scrambling for committees) is not unusual.
“There are requests from everywhere and the speaker has to find a way to handle the situation to ensure the stability of the House.
“Some committees, because of their relevance and high work volumes, are the most sought after.
“In this line-up are committees on works, gas, petroleum resources, communications, Niger Delta, NDDC, finance, appropriation, power, water resources, agriculture, education, defence and Customs, among others.”
In the run-up to the June 9 election of presiding officers of the House, allocation of committees’ positions featured prominently as a campaign issue. Contestants used them as bait for votes.
For example, one of the contestants for the post of the Speaker, Mr. Abdulmumin, who later stepped down for Dogara, had promised to allocate “75 per cent” of committees to the 233 members elected to the House for the first time.
Dogara, on his part, had promised to be “fair” to all members in the distribution of committees’ seats.
The PUNCH learnt that lobbying intensified soon after Dogara announced on June 10 that he had created a Selection Committee.
The committee, which is traditionally chaired by the speaker, has the primary responsibility of appointing members into the various standing committees of the House.
However, he presides over the Selection Committee with other principal officers as members and may draw membership from zonal and caucus leaders.
The House is yet to make public the names of other principal officers, including positions like the Majority Leader, the House Whip, the Deputy Majority Leader, the Minority Leader and the Minority Whip.
These positions are considered as party positions, which are decided by the leading political parties in the House.
A former Deputy House Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, told The PUNCH on Monday that it was not unusual to find members angling for one committee or another at the inception of a new administration.
However, he said the scrambling was unnecessary because he expected the leadership to be fair to all sides in appointing the committees.
Ogor also noted that there was nothing much Dogara could do now because the Selection Committee was not yet sitting to deliberate on committees’ appointments.
He spoke further, “Committees are allocated to zones and state caucuses.
“Every zone will get some committees, as it has been the practice.
“Besides, we are still expecting to have the other principal officers in the office before serious discussions on the issue of committees can start.
“My advice to members is that they should be patient.”
The PUNCH gathered that many returning members, who chaired “important” committees in the seventh Assembly, were lobbying to retain them if they could not get other higher responsibilities in the current dispensation.
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