{"id":467118,"date":"2011-07-24T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-24T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/07\/24\/tension-in-n%e2%80%99assembly-over-committee-posts\/"},"modified":"2011-07-24T23:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-07-24T23:00:00","slug":"tension-in-nassembly-over-committee-posts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/24\/tension-in-nassembly-over-committee-posts\/","title":{"rendered":"Tension in N\u2019Assembly over committee posts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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|\u00a0Print\u00a0|<\/a>\u00a0E-mail<\/a><\/p>\n

Written by Taiwo Adisa, Abuja<\/span> Monday, 25 July 2011<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

THERE is tension among senators and members of the House of Representatives ahead of the announcement of standing committees in the two chambers later this week.<\/p>\n

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The two chambers are engulfed in some form of drama over allocation of what has been perceived as juicy committee positions.<\/p>\n

But there is controversy over the adoption of zoning formula for the allocation of committees. Some senators and members of the House are of the view that selected committees may not come their way if zoning is thoroughly adopted. Members of the House of Representatives are also said to be apprehensive, following the reality that the standing committees could be unveiled this week.<\/p>\n

It was learnt that the zoning formula adopted for the sharing of committee positions in 2007 by the Senate President, Mr David Mark, had become popular with the two chambers and would be adopted in the composition of 53 committees in the Senate and 76 in the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

In 2007, the committees were specifically zoned, with the South-West taking Senate and House Appropriation Committees and South-South emerging chairmen of Senate and House Committees on Rules and Business.<\/p>\n

Sources said that two crucial meetings to be held by principal officers of the two chambers on Monday (today) could produce the structure of the standing committees in the two houses.<\/p>\n

It was learnt that the leadership of the two chambers would basket the committees and allocate them to each of the six geopolitical zones.<\/p>\n

Some members were however, said to be apprehensive that some committees could land in \u201cunlikely zones\u201d if the zoning arrangement was not tinkered with.<\/p>\n

For instance, senators from the North and South had been at one another\u2019s throats over the chairmanship of a number of committees in the last three weeks.<\/p>\n

In the Senate, according to sources, Appropriation, Communications, Finance and Petroleum topped the list of committees so far most sought after.<\/p>\n

But while lawmakers from the North were said to be positioning for the Committee on Appropriation on the pretext that the chairmanship seat had stayed in the South for four years, senators from the South-East were also moving to pick the slot on the basis of what someone called \u201ccompetence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some sources indicated that the same scenario is unfolding in the House, with the North also pushing for the Committee on Appropriation.<\/p>\n

Another controversy said to be brewing is to the effect that members of the opposition parties believed that the zoning would be executed through the respective political parties.<\/p>\n

Leaders of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), who negotiated with Speaker Aminu Tambuwal ahead of his election on June 6, were said to have asked specifically for a number of committees, which would be delivered to the leadership of the party.<\/p>\n

Though a similar negotiation did not take place between the ACN and the Senate president, Mr Mark, some sources insisted that the belief in the party was that the leadership of the Senate and the House would hand over the committees zoned to their areas to the leadership of the party, who would then allocate them to members as they deemed fit.<\/p>\n

Sources in the Senate and the House, however, stated that the opposition was only nursing a false belief and that the selection committees of the two House would do the job of fixing the members of chairmen of the respective committees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rules in the Senate and the House stipulate the powers of the selection committees which cannot be abdicated to any extraneous factor, whether there was a so-called behind the scenes agreement or not,\u201d a member of the House of Representatives told the Nigerian Tribune.<\/p>\n

It was learnt that ACN leader, Chief Bola Tinubu, had mandated his wife, Senator Remi Tinubu, to closely monitor the workings in the Senate, especially around Senate president, Mr Mark.<\/p>\n

The former Lagos State governor was said to have told all senators of the party not to lobby for committee posts and that the party would allocate committees to them in their areas of competence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe job of the selection committee in the Senate is clear as contained in Rule 97 of the Senate Standing Rules. Its major function is selection of senators into committees both standing and parliamentary delegations. So there cannot be anything like handing over committees to party leaders,\u201d a source in the Senate said.<\/p>\n

It was, however, gathered that the body of principal officers of the separate chambers would move to defuse tension at their meetings scheduled for Monday night. The structure of the committees would also start shaping up after the meetings, a source said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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