Lawmakers to vote on Confab report

The House of Representatives has announced it will present the report of the recently concluded national conference before the House for voting.

The Deputy Speaker and Chairman Special Ad hoc Committee on Constitutional Review, Emeka Ihedioha, said the Committee was set to lay the report before the House for voting upon resumption from the Sallah break.

The notice was made public during sitting on Tuesday.

The House, in line with its legislative calendar, is to proceed on a two-week Sallah break and resume plenary on October 14. The Deputy Speaker, who presided over Tuesday’s sitting, used the opportunity to call on members to make themselves available for the voting, adding that it is pertinent so as to capture the true wishes and aspirations of their constituents in the constitutional review process.

Also at the sitting, Arowosoge Ifeoluwa of the All Progressives Congress, urged the House to condemn the demeaning action of the thugs who attacked a court and beat up a judge and some judicial officials in Ekiti State. He also asked the lawmakers to make an official statement supporting the decision to investigate the matter by the National Judicial Council.

The House obliged him but postponed deliberations on the matter to the next legislative day.

Another matter that came up by way of a Constitutional Order was a motion by Leo Ogor bringing to the attention of the House the lingering report of the Committees on Aid, Debt and Loans and Finance on the $1bn loan solicited by President Goodluck Jonathan to assist in tackling and curbing the menace of insurgency in the country.

Ogor noted that the Speaker of the House, Aminu Tambuwal had earlier directed that the report be made available for the House to consider for approval or rejection. Following this, Ihedioha again directed that the report be laid before the House on the next legislative day.

Meanwhile, the House has passed a resolution mandating its Committee on Water resources to liaise with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to determine the actual amount required for the completion of the water treatment plant and the irrigation at the Zobe Dam.

The Committee is to also ensure that the required funds are included in any Supplementary Budget for 2014 or in Appropriation Act of 2015, for the completion of the project. The resolution came on the heels of a motion moved by Auwalu Sani.

Sani expressed concern that due to the non-completion of the project, the dam had remained under-utilised for more than 30 years and that the communities around the site have seriously been threatened by floods during rainy seasons.

He attributed the non-completion of the project to incompetence of the contractors who abandoned it after receiving more than 45% of the money released for the work.

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Lawmakers to vote on Confab report