Grumbling as reps save N200m from committee inauguration

The House of Representatives reportedly saved an estimated N200m from the mass inauguration of its standing committees, findings showed on Sunday.

The Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, had on September 29, inaugurated the 89 standing committees of the House jointly in the chambers.

The development was a deviation from the convention in place since 1999 when committees were inaugurated individually.

Findings showed that the mass inauguration had cut cost by about N200m, as against allowing each committee to plan a separate inauguration.

But, some committee chairmen allegedly grumbled over the “novel idea” on the premise that it did not give them an opportunity to interact with heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government.

Our correspondent learnt that the majority of the complainants were lawmakers, who were made committee chairmen for the first time.

“Some of them tried to mount pressure on the leadership to retain the old order, but the pressure did not work”, a National Assembly source close to the ad-hoc committee, which planned the inauguration, told our correspondent in Abuja on Sunday.

It was learnt that in the past, committees got between N1.5m and N2m for inauguration.

“What this means is that, before now, each of the 89 committees would have been inaugurated on separate days, each having its own budget,” the source added.

A committee clerk, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there was no fixed figure for inauguration.

“It depends on how they want to do it. Sometimes, it is N1m, or more,” the committee clerk stated.

The leadership of the House was said to be mindful of the cost of such individual exercises, opting for the mass inauguration in line with the Legislative Agenda it set for the legislature on June 6.

However, another source privy to the accounts of the House, claimed that it was broke, a reason it opted for the mass inauguration in a bid to save cost.

The Deputy Majority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, told our correspondent that beyond the issue of cutting cost, the House was conscious of the time that would be wasted on inaugurating the committees one after the other.

According to Ogor, committee chairman must not necessarily have to meet with heads of MDAs on the day of inauguration.

He said they had many days in the four-year tenure to meet with heads of MDAs.

Ogor said, “We wanted to save time; we asked the committees to get to work immediately instead of wasting time on separate inaugurations.

“These are agencies that you are going to oversight in four years; you have the power to summon the head of any agency any time.

“So, it must not be on the day of inauguration that you will meet with these officials. That complaint is a non-issue.”

The Chairman of the Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, denied the House was broke.

Mohammed claimed that the idea of cutting cost had nothing to do with the size of the accounts of the House.

THE PUNCH.