N’Assembly Shifts Resumption of Plenary to February 26-Deji Elumoye
• Says polls postponement will delay minimum wage bill, 2019 budget
The National Assembly, which last month
adjourned plenary to Tuesday, February 19, has shifted the resumption of
plenary by one week.
This is coming as the lawmakers have
condemned the postponement of the general election by the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC), stating that passage of the 2019
Appropriation Bill and the New Minimum Wage Bill will also suffer
further delay.
The lawmakers, according to a one- page
statement entitled “Postponement of Resumption of Plenary,” issued
yesterday by the Clerk of the National Assembly, Mr. M. A. Sani-Omolori,
attributed the shifting of the reconvening date of the federal
legislators to Tuesday, February 26, to the postponement of the national
elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to
Saturday, February 23.
The statement enjoined all senators and House of Representatives members to resume plenary by 10 a.m on Tuesday, February 26.
The Senate had on Thursday, January 24
adjourned plenary to February 19, after considering the National Minimum
Wage Bill transmitted to it by President Muhammadu Buhari, which
passed through second reading.
Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike
Ekweremadu, who presided over plenary, had said the Senate will adjourn
plenary on Tuesday , February 19 after listening to the motion moved by
the Senate Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan.
The Senate had earlier this month attempted
to hold a special session in the wake of the suspension of the Chief
Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, by President
Muhammadu Buhari, but had to put it off at the last minute.
The Clerk of the Senate, Mr. Nelson Ayewoh,
had invited the Senators to an emergency plenary through a
two-paragraph statement personally signed by him.
But Ayewoh in another letter titled
“Cancellation of Senate Resumption Plenary,” informed all senators of
the National Assembly that the resumption for Tuesday, January 29, had
been cancelled.
According to him, “the scheduled date of resumption in Plenary earlier fixed for Tuesday, February 19, remains, please”.
The Senate rather than reconvening decided
to approach the apex court of the land, the Supreme Court, to seek its
interpretation of whether President Muhammadu Buhari acted within the
provisions of the constitution in his suspension of the Chief Justice of
Nigeria (CJN), Hon. Justice Walter Onnoghen .
Meanwhile, the lawmakers have condemned the
postponement of the general election by the INEC, stating that the
passage of the 2019 Appropriation Bill and the New Minimum Wage Bill
will suffer further delay.
Speaking with one of our correspondents on
the telephone on Saturday evening, the Chairman of the House Committee
on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, lamented that the
postponement had more implications beyond the elections.
Namdas said one of the implications was
that the National Assembly, which was billed to resume plenary on
Tuesday to work on the national budget and the wage bill, among others,
would be forced to extend its recess.
The House’s spokesman said, “For us in the
National Assembly, we are really saddened by this event. We had
supported INEC to the extent that we decided to postpone some of our
recess and holidays just to approve the commission’s budget for this
election. And we approved N189 billion for INEC, in addition to the
budgets of security agencies, totalling N242 billion, so that the
situation today could be averted.
“That is why we feel that it is not fair,
after the support, both from Nigerians, the National Assembly and the
Executive Arm of Government, for INEC to cite logistics as a reason for
postponement. This is really unfair on the part of INEC.”
Namdas added, “more importantly that we are
having budget 2019 before us, this postponement will have a multiplier
effect. We are supposed to resume on Tuesday, but with this, I am not
sure that this will be there; but that depends on what our leaders will
tell us.
“However, you can understand that nobody
will leave their constituency to go (to Abuja) on Tuesday for sitting
and come back on Friday for election. With the terrain of this country,
some people, before they can access their areas, they require close to
two days. This will be a very difficult scenario.
“If it happens that the resumption is
postponed, it means that the deliberation on the budget is also
affected. But Nigerians will be fighting us; that we are delaying the
budget, not knowing that these are some of the issues. I hope it will
not occur and this will be a blessing in disguise.”
When reminded that the wage bill was also pending, the lawmaker said, “Yes, it is there. So, you can imagine!”
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