The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila has hailed Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as a political player with no bitterness.
Speaker Gbajabiamila made the comment in a congratulatory statement on Saturday on the occasion of thje 57th birthday of the Enugu Governor.
He said Ugwuanyi, who was a member of the House of Representatives until 2015, has been a friend worthy of being celebrated.
The Speaker said despite Ugwuanyi’s membership of a different political party, the Enugu State governor plays politics without bitterness, which is a virtue of a good politician.
The Speaker recalled with nostalgia Ugwuanyi’s contributions to the development of the Legislature when he served as a member. He congratulated the Enugu State Governor for marking his 57th birthday in good health and wished him more years under God’s protection and guidance.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila has pledged the readiness of the Green Chamber to address some of the challenges faced by magistrates across the country.
The Speaker made the commitment when representatives of the Magistrates Association of Nigeria visited him in his office at the National Assembly complex, Abuja, Nigeria’s capital on Wednesday.
According to Gbajabiamila, a situation where magistrates have poor working conditions would not augur well for the judiciary, considering the enormous task before them.
“Based on what you said, something clinical has to be done. I wonder why the situation is like this. We know your work. We know how much you put in this profession.
“I’m just surprised at your condition of work. Obviously, something needs to be done,” Gbajabiamila told a team from the Magistrates Association of Nigeria who paid him a visit on Wednesday.
The Speaker said the House would have to unravel the reason why magistrates are not referred to as judicial officers in Section 318 of the constitution, as brought to his attention by the association.
“We just started the amendment (of the constitution). We’ll look at it and bring it in conformity with the best practices in the world. We would do everything we can to address that issue.
“You talked about the fact that your laws are obsolete. Please help us to make our work easier. We will work with the relevant committees to begin to look at those laws. Help us write something so that we can review it. We need your inputs.
“In terms of your salary structure, that’s very important because of the sensitivity of the work you do. All the issues that you brought up are important to the administration of criminal justice. The earlier you get these things across to us the better for us all.”
Addressing the Speaker earlier, the president of the association, Malam Saidu Umar, said they have been grappling with poor working conditions over the years.
He said with the coming of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), their work became enormous, but that their remuneration remains nothing to write home about.
In a similar development, the Speaker has assured that the 9th House would continue to prioritize the health sector with a view to ensuring better service delivery for Nigerians.
Speaker Gbajabiamila made the assurance while addressing a delegation of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) led by its president, Prof. Innocent Ujah, who paid him a courtesy call in his office on Wednesday.
In his address, the Speaker assured that the House would fast-track the legislative process on a bill to repeal and reenact the Nigeria Medical and Dental Council Act.
Part of the measures, the Speaker said, is that the House would look at the issue of the outstanding allowances of the Nigerian health workers.
“Healthcare is one of the major areas of focus of the 9th House Legislative Agenda. We will continue to stand with you and anything that will help our country move forward. You can’t talk about nation-building without getting your healthcare delivery right.
“Just be rest assured that you have in this institution a friend. We will work with you. I must commend you that under the difficult terrain you work in, you’re still able to do your job,” he said.
The Speaker also supported the idea of a bank for the health sector as suggested by the NMA president, saying the House would look into it.
“We’ll like to explore the idea of a health bank further. We’ll work with our doctors in the House to know how we can go about it. If you can give us a little synopsis of it, we’ll work with it.”
He said the House would look at the suggestion to review the retirement age for medical doctors and other health workers.
“On the increase in budget allocation, I believe it has been increased to some extent. I don’t know the exact figure right now, but we’ll look at it. If there’s need to review it further, we’ll do that.”
Against insinuations in some quarters that the health sector has the least budget of about N43 billion, Gbajabiamila said the sector gets over N1 trillion budgetary allocation.
Earlier, the NMA President, Prof. Ujah, who is also the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Health Sciences, Otukpo, said the visit was to strengthen the relationship between the Speaker’s office and the association.
He pleaded with the Speaker for the House to come up with good legislation for the health sector; enhance the remuneration and allowances of medical personnel; ensure new retirement age of consultants at 70 and others at 65; improve funding and budgetary allocation for the sector as well as establish a bank for health as in the case of agriculture and industry.
On his part, the chairman of the House Committee on Healthcare Services, Rep. Tanko Yusuf Sununu, a medical doctor, thanked the Speaker for all his interventions in the sector and said the NMA team was on a thank-you visit.
He then presented an award of excellence given to the Speaker by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) at its Annual General Meeting held recently.
Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has sadly recounted how a security officer attached to his convoy killed a newspapers’ vendor in Abuja.
The vendor, who’s simply identified as Ifeanyi, was fell by stray bullets when security men attached to the speaker shot into the air to disperse “unidentified men” who obstructed the convoy.
Gbajabiamila described the incident as horrible, saying he’s “personally distraught” and offered his deepest sympathies to the deceased’s family and Abuja vendors.
The speaker added that as someone who has value for human life and respect for all people – irrespective of social economic status, he has caused a report to be made to the local police station and an investigation has commenced.
Gbajabiamila also said the security officer who fired the fatal shot has been suspended from the convoy pending the conclusion of the investigation.
According to him, “A horrible incident has taken place. This evening (November 19) as I left the National Assembly, I stopped as usual to exchange pleasantries with the newspaper vendors at the corner. Many of them have known me since I first moved to Abuja and it was a friendly exchange.
“Unfortunately, after the convoy set out in continuation of movement, unidentified men obstructed the convoy which got the attention of security men in the convoy who shot into the air to disperse them.
“Some hours later, after getting to our destination, it was brought to my attention that someone was hit by a stray bullet, contrary to an earlier report by men in the convoy that they applied their security discretion to shoot in the air.
“I have caused a report to be made to the local police station and an investigation has commenced.
“In the meantime, the officer who fired the fatal shot has been suspended from the convoy pending the conclusion of the investigation.
“My value for human life and my respect for all people – irrespective of social economic status – is what endeared me to these vendors and these are the reasons why I stop my convoy quite often to connect with them.
“For one of them to have been shot by my security detail is horrific and I cannot begin to imagine the grief and loss Ifeanyi’s family must feel on this sad day. No family should have to go through this.
“I am personally distraught about this incident and my deepest sympathies go to the victim, his family and Abuja vendors.”
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has authoritatively declared that the Green Chamber is determined to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) within the next six months.
“On the PIB, there are two things that the House would want to do. First, the House is determined to pass the bill within the next six months, or probably less, because the clock has already started running from the time it was presented.
“Two, the House is determined to pass a PIB that is satisfactory to all. I know it’s difficult to satisfy everybody, but we will try our best to satisfy everybody,” Gbajabiamila said.
Speaking when he played host to a delegation of the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) under Lagos State Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the speaker said the House would ensure that it carried all stakeholders along in working on the draft legislation until its passage.
The speaker urged members of OPTS led by their Chairman, Mike Sangster, to avail themselves the opportunity they have at hand to reach out to the House Adhoc Committee on PIB to make their inputs.
He expressed concern over the submission by Sangster that PIB in its present form, would not make the Nigerian oil and gas industry competitive globally.
“PIB has been long coming. Because of the various interests, it’s difficult to pass a bill that addresses the interests of everyone. But PIB luckily will involve local content.
“I’m very concerned about what you said that PIB as it is, doesn’t allow Nigeria to compete favourably in the global market,” he said, adding: “We’re not competitive, yet there’s the presence of oil majors here.”
According to him, “We need to look at it, but I think it will be difficult to tell members that we should go back to the old arrangement that we had.
“I need to ask the question that where were you when they were making this law? Your inputs should have been there. It’s never too late for you to have your inputs.
“I’m sure the committee will do justice to the other issues you raised.”
Earlier, Sangster raised concerns about the present form of PIB, which he said if passed the way it is, it would negatively affect Nigeria’s competitiveness in the global market.
He noted that in the past years, the African continent attracted about $70 billion of investment in the oil and gas industry but that only about $3 billion came to Nigeria despite being a major player continentally.
When the speaker sought to know from Sangster if PIB had any positives, OPTS chairman responded in the affirmative, noting that PIB represented the much-needed reforms in the sector.
He noted, however, that in its present form, the bill “doesn’t provide the environment for future investments.”
He raised other issues to include the preservation of the oil and gas business in the country, royalties, tax, how to handle NNPC’s outstanding liabilities, segregation of the upstream and downstream, complexities in the implementation of the bill, among others.
Noting that the petroleum industry had the capacity to create thousands of jobs in the next 10 years, Sangster said: “We would encourage the House to reach out to other sources to have a better analysis of PIB.”
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, has said that the House is ready to support the interventions of the Federal Government to rebuild Lagos and other states worst hit by the recent EndSars protests.
Gbajabiamila also tasked Lagosians to put heads and resources together to rebuild the state in view of the destruction of properties worth billions of naira in the state.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Board of Trustees of the Rebuild Lagos Trust Fund on Monday in Lagos, Gbajabiamila said he was heartbroken after going round the state for an on-the-spot assessment of the devastation that followed the unrest.
He said it is time for Lagosians to put aside partisan politics and stand up to rebuild the state, saying “I believe more than ever before that saying, Eko o ni baje, and the quick reply is, O baje ti’.
“I believe in my heart, that this saying can never be truer than now, that Eko o ni baje, o de baje ti. (Never will Lagos go bad, never).
“We will rebuild this state with everything that we need, with all the tools at our disposal, we will rebuild Lagos. This is the time to prove it, that Eko o ni baje,” he said.
He said in rebuilding the state, there should be a public-private partnership, which he said would be one of the best ways to face the task.
“I think it goes beyond budget or appropriation. It will call for a special intervention from the Federal Government to make sure that monies are devoted, not just to Lagos, although Lagos bears the major devastation.
“So it’s going to be panoramic; it’s going to be for all the states, but we all know that Lagos bears the brunt of the devastation.
Gbajabiamila said in working for Nigerians, the 9th House would try as much as it could to abide by its slogan, which is ‘Nation Building: A Joint Task.
“So we will pull all our friends and colleagues and talk to them that we don’t look at this from a state or political prism but a nationalistic point of view and make sure that what needs to be done would be done.
“We will remain our brother’s keepers. That’s what we do in the National Assembly, be our brother’s keepers, and that’s what we will do for Lagos State and the rest of the country.”
He also visited the Bode Thomas police station where he met with men of the Nigeria Police.
Describing the sad events as a harrowing experience, the Speaker said: “I will support all steps of the Lagos state Government to help ensure we rise above this ugly episode”.
Following the unrest, looting and destruction of private and public properties that peaked the #EndSARS protest in Lagos State, Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu says it will need not less than N1 trillion to rebuild Lagos State.
This was revealed by the Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiaila, when he visited Governor Sanwo-Olu in Marina on Sunday to sympathise with the state, which quickly became the epicenter of last week’s pandemonium that brought down shops, court, business and transport assets, and the palace of the Lagos Monarch, Oba Ridwan Akiolu.
Gbajabiamila, who visited along with members of the House of Representatives from Lagos, said: “The governor was telling me just now that it was going to cost about a trillion naira to rebuild Lagos. That makes my heart heavy. And I asked the governor what’s the budget of Lagos State? What are you planning? And he told me that they’re planning a budget of about a trillion Naira.”
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila visits Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo_Olu, Sunday October 25, 2020, at the State House Marina. The Speaker sympathizes with the residents of Lagos State over the unrest, arson and looting that followed the alleged shooting of unarmed peaceful protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate on Tuesday, October 20, 2020.
During the pandemonium, arsonists had burnt down public assets that include 89 new buses of the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) that were parked in Oyingbo and Berger. The Commissioner for Information and Strategy Gbenga Omotoso, had put the cost of each of buses at about $200,000.
Other public assets destroyed are the multi-million naira forensic and DNA centre, the Igbosere High Court, local government secretariat buildings, and hundreds of other vehicles. These also include some other public buildings scattered across the state and street lights.
According to the Speaker of House, the destruction of properties is sad and should not occur again: “I came in from Abuja today, not just to stand in solidarity with him, but by extension the people of Lagos State. These have been very difficult few days. It has even been more difficult for me in the last hour. Driving in from the airport and sitting with the governor to watch the documentary here put together, that evidences of the carnage we all witnessed. It makes us all very sad.
“This, certainly, is not the Lagos of our dream that we all talk about. And I know deep down, and I believe no matter how brave a face one puts to it, that even the protesters have their regrets that things went this far, because from my understanding and from what I’ve seen, both those who are pro-protest and those who are anti-protest, were all affected.
“There’s very little I can say. But, I know that standing with me is a man of courage, a man of destiny. Because it’s very unusual for you to come into office, and within a year a few months, you witnessed two calamitous events: first, you were in the epicentre of COVID-19, which you dealt with to the admiration of all.
“Whilst we were still grappling with that, you now became the epicentre of the protests. I want to encourage you to lift your head high, because you discharged your duties as a governor of a state that was troubled in the last few months, or close to one year,” he said.
Furthermore, Gbajabiamila stated that he did not wish the incident to take an ethnic dimension, having heard a lot of conspiracy theories about it.
“Let us shut our ears to those things. Let us focus as one people, whether you’re Igbo, whether you’re from the North, whether you’re from the South. This is the mantra that we have in the House of Representatives because if you talk about nation-building, we say it is a joint task.
“I want to also use this opportunity, in a way, to be grateful and commend our brothers and sisters from the North. I said this because if the North had been a part of this, I don’t know if we’ll all be standing here today. That’s why I commend our brothers and sisters from the North.
“On Tuesday, we talked in the House about compensation. I want to reiterate that the House will do all it can to make sure that everybody that has suffered from police violence – whether you’re from the North, from the East, from the West, because everybody in Nigeria has suffered from police violence, not just those of us from the Southwest. That will be applicable to all, including policemen that lost their lives in these unfortunate incidents.
“So, Your Excellency, we bring you good tidings and good wishes from Abuja. We stand with you. Whatever the House can do to help in rebuilding, not just Lagos State, but other states that have been affected as well from whatever part in Nigeria, the House will definitely join hands. Because we’re now in the situation of reconstruction.
“I want to encourage our young men and women out there that you fought a good fight, and I’m sure deep down, you’re not happy with what you’ve seen. The government listened, the president listened, the House listened, the Senate listened, the governors listened, it is now time to take stock and make sure this never happens again”.
“Your Excellency, the ground zero of what happened here is Lekki…that was what precipitated the violence and the carnage the following day. It is important to me, as I know it is important to you and to everybody, to know what exactly happened.
“A judicial panel has been set up, and I hope those who say this is what happened will have the courage to go before the judicial panel and say this is what happened and give credible evidence. And if that was indeed what happened, then, the law must take its course. But, if that was not what happened, the law must also take its course. Either way, the law must take its course”, the Speaker said.
Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has met with the national leadership of Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) led its President, Olumide Akpata, where he reaffirmed the lawmakers’ determination to come up with a piece of new legislation within 30 days towards addressing police brutality and other issues.
Similarly, Akpata assured that his association would ensure a good collaboration with the House with a view to coming up with good legislations to address the matter.
The House had last week passed some far-reaching resolutions to address the issue of police brutality against Nigerians, one of which is to amend the constitution and come up with other legislation to curb the excesses of the police.
Speaking during a courtesy call by NBA leadership to his office on Wednesday, Gbajabiamila said the provision of Section 215 (5) almost gives the police absolute immunity against their excesses, hence the need to amend that section.
Gbajabiamila, who said the House could not do it alone, sought for the support of NBA to achieve its set goal on addressing police brutality.
Speaker, House of Representatives receives President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Olumide Alapata ìn Abuja.
“I want to use this opportunity to congratulate Nigerians out there, who have been part of this struggle, and I want to appeal at the same time that we should apply the brake, perhaps, a little and see what will be done.
“In the House, before the protest, we made a statement. I made a statement on the floor of the House. We reached far-reaching resolutions. We’ve been very proactive on this issue. We’re determined to pursue the resolutions of the House forcefully, for want of a better word.
“Our resolutions included that we discovered section 215 (5) almost gives absolute immunity to the police over what they do. So, for a start, we feel we should begin with amending the constitution and delete that offensive section.
Speaker, House of Representatives receives President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Olumide Alapata ìn Abuja.
“I believe it was well-intended but now it’s obnoxious. From that, we can raise any other reforms to look at the complaints from the public, from NBA, the civil societies etc.
“We’re waiting for Inspector General of Police to send us the list of policemen that had complaints against them in the last five years. We’re also waiting for the list of the victims so that they can be compensated. We’re beginning the budget process, and we want to make sure that there’s a line item that ensures they’re compensated.
“The resolutions also talked about police reform. We already passed the Police Reform Act, but we need to do more. We need to look at the conditions of service, etc.
“Suffice it to say that this House is determined to bring this to fruition. We gave ourselves 30 days to come up with a piece of legislation. We’re working assiduously to achieve the timeline we set for ourselves,” Gbajabiamila said.
The Speaker announced that the House would raise an ad hoc panel that would interface with NBA on the issue of police brutality and others.
Akpata had earlier told the Speaker that the visit was to discuss the issue of police brutality and see how the contentious issues could be addressed.
Speaker, House of Representatives receives President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Olumide Alapata ìn Abuja.
He expressed delight that the House was already doing a lot on the matter, saying Nigerians were eager to see how the matter would be resolved.
“We at NBA are resolute to collaborate with you on the issues,” he said.
Akpata raised the issue of some Nigerians being detained at different police stations unnecessarily, calling on the Speaker to intervene.
Responding, Gbajabiamila told NBA president to identify all the police stations where people were detained for the House to raise a delegation that would meet with NBA and get them released.
“I think you should identify the stations where people are being held. I will be more than happy to set up a crack team of members to go with you and pursue vigorously those issues. This should be part of the collaboration. We’ll expect your response on this,” Gbajabiamila said.
In a related development, the Speaker has also hosted the leadership of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) led by the Executive Secretary, Tony Ojukwu, where he raised the same issues relating to police brutality and what the House is doing about it.
The Speaker also sought a partnership with the commission towards finding lasting solutions to human rights abuses.
On his part, Ojukwu informed the Speaker that it was important to come up with an investigative panel that would consider the cases of human rights violations by the police and listen to victims of police brutality.
The 2021 budget expected to be presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday will be COVID-19 compliant.
This was disclosed by Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila when he read a letter from the President proposing budget presentation, during plenary on Wednesday in Abuja.
The Speaker noted that the budget presentation by President Buhari, to a joint session of both the Senate and House at 11am on Oct. 8, will be in full compliance to COVID-19 protocol.
Gbajabiamila said that members would be mandated to wear their face masks as part of compliance to COVID-19 protocol.
An abridged version of the budget would be presented by the President in order to limit the session to a hour, the Speakers said.
Similarly, the Speaker noted that his speech and that of the Senate President would be abridged so as to further reduce presentation time due to COVID-19.
According to him, the budget presentation will not be the usual annual presentation, it will be abridged because of the need to comply with COVID-19 guidelines.
Gbajabiamila added that the presentation, billed to commence at 11am, will adhere to social distancing rules as members would be allowed to sit in the gallery.
The House of Representatives on Tuesday says it is ready to partner with the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) to deliver housing for Nigerians.
This was disclosed by Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila when he hosted the management of FHA, led by the Managing Director, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, on a courtesy call, a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Speaker, Lanre Lasisi said.
Gbajabiamila said he believed Nigerians deserve the best in terms of housing, hence the House’s readiness to collaborate with the current management of FHA to achieve the mandate of the agency.
The Speaker said with the calibre of the team in the agency, he was of the firm conviction that they would take the agency to enviable heights.
“We’re happy that you’re here. We look forward to collaborating with you on very pertinent issues. I have no doubt that with the kind of team you have, the FHA is about to witness turnaround for good,” he said.
Gbajabiamila added that the current team, whose MD, Senator Ashafa and the Executive Director, Business Development, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin were former members of the National Assembly, has a responsibility, which they must carry out diligently.
“There’s no way you’ll talk about the development of any country without talking about housing or shelter.
“By God’s grace, with you guys on the saddle, Nigeria will witness a lot of roofs on our heads. So, we are very ready to collaborate and partner with you.”
Earlier, Senator Ashafa said they visited the Speaker to familiarise themselves and seek for collaboration with the House, having been recently appointed and inaugurated.
He appealed for the amendment of certain aspects of the Act establishing FHA, which he said would make their work more efficient and effective.
“I would want to emphasize the main reason why we are here, which is the collaboration with the National Assembly to achieve our mandate.
“We have found out of recent that some of the items under the Act needed to be worked on. It’s on this regard that we came for this visit and crave the indulgence of the House.”
The FHA team comprised of the MD and some top management staff, including Jibrin, who was the Director-General of the Gbajabiamila/Wase Speakership campaign team last year.
Photos:
Tobiloba Kolawole
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