House Of Reps Speaks On Jostle For Appropriation Committee Membership

The House of Representatives has dismissed reports circulating online that some lawmakers are lobbying to be admitted into the Appropriation Committee of the Green Chamber.

The membership of the committee has increased in the last few weeks, which is said to be against the House rules and has caused discontentment in the lower chamber.

It was learned that the membership of the Appropriation Committee had risen from the statutorily allowable figure by house rules of a maximum of 40 members to 57 members.

According to Leadership, some chairmen and deputies of other Standing Committees of the House have been admitted as members of the strategic committee.

The newspaper said the lawmakers joined the committee because of the juicy opportunities its membership attracts, especially in terms of financial rewards and opportunities to smuggle projects into the budget for pecuniary gains.

It was gathered that two chairmen of two other standing committees have already found their way into the committees, and Akwa-Ibom and Edo states have three members each.

But in a chat with Leadership over the weekend, the spokesman of the Green Chamber, Hon. Akin Rotimi, said the number of members of the appropriation committee has not increased.

He insisted that the composition of various standing committees of the House of Representatives was done in conformity with extant standing orders governing the operations of the lower assembly.

Rotimi added that the standing committees were composed in line with the career backgrounds, qualifications, and cognate experience of lawmakers, as well as the need to ensure geo-political balancing.

The House spokesman also revealed that the standing orders of the house are also being revised and due for debate on Thursday, November 9, 2023.

He said, “The composition of the standing committees of the House have been done in sufficient compliance with the extant standing orders and in line with the career backgrounds, qualifications, and cognate experience of honourable members, as well as the need to ensure geo-political balancing.

“The standing orders of the house are also being revised and due for debate on Thursday. It is thus preemptive for these insinuations that are not based on a review of the accurate list of members of any committee, nor the yet-to-be-concluded revised standing orders that would guide the operations of the 10th assembly.”