Speaker Dogara unveils headships of House of Reps committees

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has unveiled the list of chairpersons and vice chairpersons of the special and standing committees of the House.

Mr. Dogara, Thursday, announced the headships of the 96 committees.

Forty-eight members of the All Progressives Congress were appointed chairpersons while 46 members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party are also heading committees of the House.

One member each from the Social Democratic Party and the All Progressives Grand Alliance secured committee leadership positions

For the deputy chairpersons positions, the APC got 54, while the PDP cornered 38.

An analysis of the composition of the committees suggest that Mr. Dogara took great care to reward members who backed him to become Speaker.

Abdulmumin Jibrin, who also eyed the Speakership but later withdrew to lead Mr. Dogara’s campaign, clinched the chairmanship of the Committtee on Appropriation, regarded as the “juiciest”.

Another signicant committee, Basic Education, is chaired by a top loyalist of the Speaker, Mohammed Zakari.

Leading supporters of the Majority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, the duo of James Faleke and Rufai Chachangi, emerged chairman and vice chairman of Customs and Excise Committee respectively.

The two APC members from the South-East, Chike Okafor and Austin Chukwukere, were made chairpersons of Healthcare Services and vice chairman, Finance, respectively.

Their zone has no representation in the Body of Principal Officers of the House. This appears to be why they were appointed to major committees even though that are first-time lawmakers.

Some of those appointed to head committees are: Herman Hembe (Federal Capital Territory); Aminu Shehu Shagari (Federal Judiciary); Garba Mohammed (Solid Minerals); Adeyinka Ajayi (Aids, Loans and Debt Management); Nkiruka Onyejiocha (Aviation); Linus Okorie (Agricultural Colleges and Institutions); Betty Apiafi (Health Institutions); and Tobi Okechukwu (Works).

The leadership of the most important committee conventionally available to the leading opposition in the House, Public Accounts, went to Kingsley Chinda (PDP-Rivers State).

Those who retained the leaderships of their previous committees are Nnena Ukeje (Foreign Affairs); Jones Onyeriri (Banking and Currency); Nkiruka Onyejiocha (Aviation); Mohammed Munguno (Agriculture); Shehu Shagari (Judiciary); Nicholas Mutu (NDDC); and Aminu Suleiman (Education, Tertiary).

Full list of committees and members coming later…