Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, has unveiled the chairmen and deputy chairmen of the various standing committees.
This is just as the number of committees increased from the previous 109 to 134.
Ex-Deputy Speaker of the House, Idris Wase, was named Chairman, Committee on Federal Character while ex- Chairman, Committee on Appropriation, Muktar Betara, emerged Chairman, Committee on the Federal Capital Territory.
Former House leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, a supporter of Abbas in the race for the Speakership, bagged the chairmanship of the House Committee on Petroleum Resources(upstream).
Others included Aminu Jaji (Ecological Fund), Miriam Onuoha (Tertiary Education Trust Fund), Abubakar Bichi (Appropriation), Afam Ogene (Renewable Energy), James Faleke (Finance), and Salam Bamidele (Public Accounts Committee).
Yusuf Gadgi and Sada Soli, who headed the Committees on Navy and Water Resources, respectively, in the ninth Assembly, retained the same Committees.
Khadija Ibrahim, wife of the former Yobe State Governor, Bukar Ibrahim, was named Chairman, Committee on the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency, along with Ikenga Ugo-Chinyere (Petroleum Downstream), Leke Abejide (Customs and Excise), Victor Nwokolo (Power), Bello El-Rufai (Banking Regulations), and Erhiakate Ibori-Suenu (Niger Delta Development Commission), among others.
Abbas increases House standing committees, names Wase, Faleke, Gagdi, Betara chairmen (FULL LIST)
Mr Abbas named the committee heads during plenary on Thursday.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, on Thursday, constituted the standing committees of the House.
Mr Abbas, however, increased the number of the committees to 134 committees from 110 constituted by his predecessor, Femi Gbajabiamila.
This means he created 24 new committees in the 360-member House.
Among those named as committee heads are former Deputy Speaker Idris Wase, Yusuf Gagdi and Musa Betara, all of who aspired to the speakership seat against Mr Abbas some months ago. Messrs Gagdi and Betara later withdrew from the race.
Mr Wase (APC, Plateau) got the chairmanship of the less fancied committee on Federal Character, while Mr Betara (APC, Borno) was appointed the chairman of the committee on Federal Capital Territory.
Mr Gagdi retained the headship of the committee on the Navy, which he headed under Mr Gbajabiamila.
Mr Abbas named Abubakar Bichi (APC, Kano) as the committee chairman on Appropriations, and he is to be deputised by Idu Igariwey (PDP, Ebonyi).
President Bola Tinubu’s political ally, James Faleke (APC, Lagos), retained the finance committee chairmanship, which he headed in the ninth session under Mr Gbajabiamila. Ditto for his deputy, Abdullahi Saidu (APC, Niger).
Mr Faleke, who hails from Kogi State, was the secretary of the Tinubu Campaign Organisation until some months back.
Bamidele Salam (PDP, Osun) is to chair the committee on Public Accounts, while Babajimi Benson (APC, Lagos) retained the committee on defence.
The former Leader of the House, Alhassan Doguwa (APC, Kano), is the new committee chairman on petroleum (Upstream).
Party distribution
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) got the highest number of chairmanship positions, with 80 lawmakers drawn from the ruling party.
Also, 39 PDP lawmakers will chair committees, while six chairmen are members of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and six from the Labour Party (LP).
The Social Democratic Party (SDP), Young People’s Party (YPP) and African Democratic Congress (ADC) got one committee chairman each.
No juicy committee
Before announcing the committee heads, Mr Abbas appealed to the lawmakers to accept the appointments as a “fair and just” list. He stated that there is nothing like juicy committees or grade one committees.
“My dear Colleagues, you would recall that the leadership of the House has consistently assured members of its resolve to be fair to all, irrespective of political leanings and affiliations.
“There are no grade ‘A’ nor the so-called ‘juicy committees’ as some erroneously often think. Every committee of the House enjoys equal status, powers and privileges as mere working groups to discharge the mandate given to us by our constituents,” the Speaker said.
Following the announcement, the House was adjourned for its annual recess till September.