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The House of Representatives is in the process of reconstituting its
standing committees. Just before members went on a three week Easter
break which ends tomorrow, the leadership directed the Selection
Committee to begin the process of reconstituting the committees, which
will be finalised upon the resumption of the House.

The deputy speaker,
Usman Nafada, who presided over the last plenary session before the
break, said the Selection Committee needed to return to work earlier to
enable them fill the vacant chairmanship slots.

Although, he did
not name the committees affected, no fewer than seven committees are
currently without chairmen, including Works,Power, Lake Chad,
Women in Parliament, Privatisation and Commercialization, Cooperation
and Integration in Africa and Information and National Orientation.

Their chairmen
were either removed by the leadership over certain allegations or lost
their seats following the nullification of their elections into the
House. One committee chairman died.

Therefore, barring
any hitches, new chairmen for those committees will emerge tomorrow or
at the most, in the next few weeks. But there are indications that
several other committees will have their leadership reshuffled.

The last time a
major reconstitution of the committees was carried out was in October
2008, some 11 months after the Speaker, Dimeji Bankole and Mr
Nafada assumed office – exactly 40 days after 69 of the former 72
committees he inherited from former Speaker Patricia Etteh, were
dissolved and about five months after he initiated the process of
overhauling them.

Unlike Ms. Etteh,
who gave all her 72 committees except one (Public Accounts) to PDP
lawmakers to chair, Mr Bankole gave more committees to the opposition
parties, namely ANPP and AC.

But regrettably, that was where the excitement ended.

Since then, not
many of the 84 committees have impressed the Speaker himself, let alone
Nigerians and other watchers of the legislature. To be sure, this is
not due to paucity of funds but, largely, because of the unpreparedness
of the committee members and leadership to do the job they were elected
to do.

Committees are the
engine rooms of the legislature. What ministries and ministers are to
the executive arm of government is about what committees and their
chairmen are to the legislature. Committees not only consider bills or
resolutions committed to them by the whole House, they oversee
departments and agencies of the executive and play a major role in
allocating funds to such agencies.

When created, a
committee’s leadership is allowed to, in turn, create subcommittees or
ad-hoc committees to ease its duties. A committee or subcommittee
chairman is usually seen as a ‘bride’ of any official of the executive
arm. He can use that position, if he chooses, to secure contracts,
employment space for his constituents or other benefits from a
government agency.

Hence, the
reconstitution of committees by the leadership of any legislature is a
serious exercise. But a common feature of the exercise is the attendant
anxiety among lawmakers who want to be chairmen or deputy.

Some do not just
want to be chairmen, they want to head what are usually regarded in
parliamentary parlance as “juicy committees.” Such juicy committees
include Petroleum Resources, Education, Interior, Communications,
Aviation, Transport, House Services, Agriculture, FCT, Defence, Power, Justice/Judiciary, Appropriation, Finance, Niger Delta/NDDC, Works, Banking and Currency, Foreign Affairs, Police Affairs, Gas, Rules and Business.

Do it right

The Selection Committee whose membership are the principal officers
(10 in all), have been meeting. Already, there are reports of intense
lobbying. Interestingly, the lobbying is not limited to thecommittees whose
chairmanship seats are vacant. There is a growing anxiety in the House
since Mr Nafada dropped the hint of filling the vacant committees.

Even the perceived arch enemies of the leadership, particularly of Mr Bankole, are reportedly falling
over themselves in a bid to retain their chairmanship and deputy
chairmanships. Those sacked are also in desperate bid to return to
their committees. Some have allegedly threatened to unseat the Speaker
if they do not get what they want.

Experience has
shown that the desire of these lawmakers is not to serve the Nigerian,
but merely to line up their pockets with publicmoney. The general
elections are around the corner and those legislators who want to
return to the House or are aspiring to higher offices need money. Those
who already know that they are not returning, probably by virtue of the
internal arrangement in their constituency or because they have fallen
out with their godfathers, are also hoping to make enough to live the
good life before other political opportunities come.

Composition of the last committee was everything but thorough. It is understandable, because of the need for the Speaker to provide “job for the boys”
who brought him to power. He, particularly needed to compensate members
of the Integrity Group. But it is important that Mr Bankole gets it right this time. It is time to think Nigeria. The buck stops on his table. Therefore, one thing Mr Bankole should do is to put round pegs in round holes.

Mr Bankole should
also disband committees such as Lake Chad, Urban, Emergency, HIV/AIDS,
Poverty Alleviation, Women In Parliament, Donor, Constituency Outreach, Special Duties and Rural Development and make them subcommittees of other major committees. They are not serving any purpose.