Senate: Ekweremadu Explains Delay in Constituting C’ttees

Senator Ike Ekweremadu , Deputy Senate President

 Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has explained why the senate has not constituted its standing committees, three months after the inauguration of the seventh session of the federal legislature.

Ekweremadu, in an interview with THISDAY, dismissed insinuations that the inability of the senate to constitute its standing committees was due to disagreements over the sharing posts among lawmakers and the bodies of principal officers that make up the selection committees in both chambers.

Rather, the delay, he added, was caused by the need to be thorough so that members are put in committees relevant to their area of competence.

The senate in July had gone on a nine-week recess, shortly after the screening and ratification of ministerial nominees.
Both the senate and the House of Representatives, which also proceeded on recess the same month, are expected to resume plenary session on September 13.
It was gathered that the two chambers of the National Assembly would announce the constitution of their committees shortly after resumption.

While the Senate President, Senator David Mark, heads the 10-member Selection Committee comprising all the principal officers of the senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, heads the lower chamber’s equivalent.

Ekweremadu, who is also the deputy chairman of the Senate Selection Committee that has the responsibility for assigning senators to appropriate standing committees, told our correspondent  Saturday night that the composition of the committees was also delayed by the “hectic” ministerial screening that took most of the time of the senate before it went on its annual recess.

He said: “People have to understand that in the senate we have this responsibility of confirming the ministers. And it was very hectic, coming shortly after the inauguration of the seventh assembly.

“We had to deal with about 42 ministers and it had to be thorough. That process could not have proceeded at the time we would be constituting committees.

“So, we decided to put that (screening) behind us first and then we would begin to delve into the issue of constituting the committees later. Neither do we not want to begin to bring people together and begin to call them committees just for the sake of it.

“We need to look at their background, their experience, where they can fit in; we want to put round pegs in round holes. We want to be thorough in doing the job. We also want to make sure that each part of the country is adequately taken care of in terms of making sure that the chairmanship of the committees is spread evenly across all the geo-political zones in a justifiable manner.
“So these are some of the things that have delayed the composition of the committees.”

Explaining that the composition of committees “is not something you just do in a quick fix manner,” Ekweremadu promised the committees would be put in place “as soon as we come back from our vacation because the selection committee of which I am the vice chairman has already commenced work on the matter.”

According to him, the senate will retain its 54 standing committees, adding that he was not anticipating any controversy after the announcement of the committees “as the senate has been cohesive.”

He said once the committees were constituted, the senate would “focus on the performance of the 2011 budget, as we wait to commence work on the 2012 budget.”

The House of Represen-tatives also said it would constitute its standing committees on resumption of plenary in September.
Its deputy speaker, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, in a telephone interview last night, revealed that the House would create a new committee.
“We expect to create one new committee which is the Committee on Information Technology. This shall be created with the Communications Committee; we have decided to separate them in recognition that they have different functions,” he added.

Anxiety was high in the two chambers shortly after the inauguration of the seventh National Assembly on June 6, as ranking members of the federal legislature were believed to have started jostling in earnest to chair so-called “juicy” committees.

Some of the committees believed to be the most sought-after include   Appropriation, Finance, Public Accounts, FCT, Petroleum, Oil and Gas as well as Rules and Business.

At a time, it was stated that the leadership of both chambers were in a dilemma over the sharing formula for the committees in a manner that would not cause tension among some powerful returning lawmakers.