Speaker names House committee chairmen

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, on Thursday, unveiled the chairmen and deputy chairmen of the various standing committees.

This was just as the 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 Speaker seat, 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 9th Assembly, retained the same committees.

Wife of the former Yobe State Governor, Bukar Ibrahim, Khadija Ibrahim, was named Chairman, Committee on the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency, Ikenga Ugo-Chinyere (Petroleum Downstream), Leke Abejide (Custom and Excise), Victor Nwokolo ( Power), Bello El-Rufai (Banking Regulations) and Erhiakate Ibori-Suenu (Niger Delta Development Commission), among others.

Explaining how the leadership of the various committees emerged, the Speaker noted that the selection committee was guided by a deep sense of fairness and inclusiveness.

“The selection committee relied on the capacities, experiences, knowledge, competencies, skills and legislative interests of members in assigning colleagues to different committees.

“This, we did, to ensure that we have round pegs in round holes. Indeed, we had to cope with the onerous task of assigning members to the different committees based on the criteria listed earlier,” he said.