The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Abbas Tajudeen, has said that the increase in the standing committees of the House from 109 to 134 was to allow for better legislative oversight of Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government by the legislature.
Abbas made this known during an interactive session with journalists in the National Assembly Complex on Tuesday.
He countered that the aim was to share leadership positions among members.
He noted that some of the committees of the House were too large for effective oversight functions.
He said: “For example, the Committee on Tertiary Education had over 300 agencies to supervise and at the end of every year, they will end up not being able to over sight some of them.
“So we have to break it down to allow for efficiency and to put eyes on what the Executive is doing.”
“The committee has been broken to committees on University Education, Federal Polytechnic, Federal Colleges of Education and TETFund.”
The Speaker said that all standing committees have been given marching orders to ensure efficiency in their work.
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He stated that a monitoring system has been put in place to monitor and evaluate the works of the various committees.
Abbas, however, assured that under his leadership, the existing relationship with the media will be strengthened.
The Speaker assured that the House will carry out a quarterly media briefing on its activities to enlighten Nigerians on the steps taken by the parliament.
He disclosed the House plans to train members of the Fourth Estate of the Realm every quarter on parliamentary reportage as part of efforts to ensure professionalism in reporting the activities of the parliament.
Earlier, the Chairman of the House of Press Corps, Grace Ike, had stressed that the press is fundamental in democracy and also committed to promoting good governance through objective and balanced reportage.
Ike said that as professionals, journalists are also conscious of national interests and have been doing their jobs with utmost patriotism.
She said: “We are not oblivious of the fact that the parliament is the bastion of democracy, hence the reports coming out of it must reflect the reality on ground and meet the yearnings and aspirations of Nigeria .
“However, we also need the cooperation and support of your leadership to continue offering undiluted service to the nation.
“We need the understanding of committee chairmen and their members in reciprocating our friendly gesture and carrying us along in their activities.
“The parliament is a specialised area so there should be training and retraining of journalists and given utmost priority.
“We look forward to seeing this materialised.”
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