Posted by Amarachi on Tue 03rd Dec, 2019 - tori.ng
Following the death of one of its members, the House of Reps are expected to adjourn plenary session for the 2020 budget passage.
House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is billed to receive and consider the report by the Committee on Appropriations on the 2020 Appropriation Bill on Tuesday (today).
Consideration of the report will form the third reading and passage of the national budget.
The National Assembly had scheduled consideration of the report by the Committees on Appropriations on the budget for November 28 (Thursday).
The parliament had, however, deferred the consideration to this week.
The Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, last Tuesday, said consideration and adoption of the report would be delayed to allow a thorough work on it.
He had said, “We have deferred this to next Tuesday (today) because there is mopping up or putting finishing touches to the budget. It is a lot of work and we believe that it is better anything worth doing is worth doing well. So, the laying of the budget has been deferred from today to Tuesday, the 3rd of December.”
The House and the Senate are, however, expected to adjourn plenary in honour of the lawmaker representing Magama/Rijau Federal Constituency of Niger State in the House of Representatives, Ja’afaru Iliyasu, who died on Monday.
It is a tradition in the National Assembly that the chambers adjourn plenary for a legislative day when a member of either the Senate or House dies.
Iliyasu, a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, was said to have died at his Maitama residence in Abuja.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, who confirmed the death in a statement, expressed sadness over the demise of the lawmaker.
The statement said Iliyasu had just returned to Abuja on Sunday after a retreat organised for members of the House Committee on Public Accounts in Lagos.
Gbajabiamila said he was “deeply shaken” by the demise of the lawmaker, describing him as a gentleman who showed great willingness and determination to work with his colleagues to make good laws for the country.
The Speaker, who described Iliyasu’s death as painful, said he would be remembered for his commitment to representing the interest of his people and Nigerians as a whole.