Some House of Representatives members in Abuja on Tuesday
protested the alleged discrimination in the allocation of seats and offices for
the members.
The lawmakers, numbering about 100, who openly protested
against the perceived tendencies, said the ugly trend was capable of causing
setbacks in legislative activities.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the House
Committee on Welfare, chaired by Rep. Olawale Raji (APC-Lagos), was saddled
with allocating seats for members.
The protesting lawmakers were mostly first-timers, who described the seats allocated to them at one of the temporary chambers as unconducive as they were on the third floor.
Also, some of them protested the allocation of offices to
the members.
According to the list issued by the Welfare Committee, 240
members were allotted for the second floor, while a few members, including some
first-timers, were allocated seats on the ground floor.
Responding to the development, the Speaker of the House,
Rep. Tajudeen Abbas, called for calm while assuring that the main Chamber,
which is currently undergoing renovation, would be completed before the House
resumed from recess.
Rep. Khadijat Bukar-Ibrahim, Chairman, Ad hoc Committee on
Media, said there was a slight uproar during the plenary session.
She said the allocation of offices is the responsibility of
the Welfare Committee, which had actually done the work and allocated offices
to every member.
“And as far as the seats are concerned, you know we are in a
temporary seating area, so there are not enough seats for all members to sit
downstairs. So, some have to be accommodated upstairs.
“So, there was a slight uproar, not a huge one about not
hearing the mic from downstairs,” she said.
“Mr. Speaker had since directed that members should occupy
any seat they find downstairs and everybody was happy,” Bukar-Ibrahim added.
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