Reps’ crisis over ‘juicy’ committees worsens

Squabbles over key House of Representatives committees among lawmakers have worsened, leading to mounting tension between members of the All Progressives Congress and the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party.

The PUNCH learnt on Sunday that the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, was also facing tough times on how to keep “pre-election agreements” he reportedly had with some lawmakers before the June 9 speakership poll.

Key committees are referred to as ‘juicy committees’ by lawmakers, a term suggesting that such committees are lucrative and confer certain advantages on the chairmen or the members over others.

The Speaker, under the rules of the House, chairs the Selection Committee, which has the responsibility of appointing the chairmen of standing committees.

There are over 94 standing committees of the House waiting to be named.

Although principal officers and state caucuses also sit on the committee, the prerogative of deciding the chairmen remains the Speaker’s.

Investigations showed that the committee started sitting last week as members proceeded on a six-week recess to reconvene on September 29.

But The PUNCH learnt that some members demanded chairmanship of particular committees as compensation for working hard to ensure that Dogara emerged as the Speaker.

The committees keenly sought as of Sunday were Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream); Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream); Committee on Appropriation; Committee on Finance; Committee on Communications; Committee on Power; Committee on Works; Committee on Customs; Committee on NDDC; Committee on Electoral Matters; Committee on Gas; Committee on Aviation; Committee on Baking/Currency; Committee on House Services; Committee on Water Resources; Committee on Agriculture; Committee on Education; and Committee on Defence.

Findings indicated that there were some PDP lawmakers who insisted on heading the committees on petroleum resources as rewards for backing the Speaker.

However, the APC members opposed the bid on the grounds that high-profile committees were rarely given to opposition members, “no matter the circumstances.”

A popular female lawmaker from the South-South is said to be the leader of the PDP group from the zone insisting on heading the petroleum committees.

“The member in question wants to chair the Committee on Petroleum Resources (upstream), saying that the Speaker gave his word during the election campaigns.

“But, last week when she approached him (Dogara) to remind him of his promise, the Speaker told her to wait for committees that would be zoned to her state first,” a National Assembly official informed The PUNCH on Sunday.

Dogara’s “diplomatic” response was said to have come after the APC lawmakers protested that such key committees were not meant for opposition members.

Similarly, two senior PDP lawmakers from the South-East are insisting on retaining their ‘Grade A’ committees.

One of the committees oversees multi-billion naira operations in the transportation sector.

“The problem now is that another influential APC member from the North-Central is opposing them and argues that a Grade A committee should naturally go to an APC member.

“In the days of former Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, no opposition party member was given such committees in spite of the fact that the then Action Congress of Nigeria helped Tambuwal to emerge as the Speaker,” the source stated.

But the PDP members reportedly told Dogara that “agreement is agreement,” and that the Speaker must keep to his pre-election promise.

The PUNCH gathered that the most contested committee remained the Committee on Appropriation, which had torn three senior APC members apart.

Two of the members, from Kano and Kwara states respectively, were among the few APC lawmakers who risked being punished by the APC for daring to support Dogara’s emergence.

The third member is from Katsina State, President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state.

However, investigations revealed that the chairmanship of three committees, defence, education and judiciary, had been decided by the Selection Committees.