Again, Bankole threatens to sack committee chairmen over poor performance

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, on Thursday threatened to sack chairpersons of some standing committees for failing to turn in reports of the public hearings and oversight assignments they held.

Mr. Bankole, who gave the warning at the commencement of the plenary session, regretted that months after organising public hearings into some bills, the chairmen are yet to submitted their reports and gave them one week to do so.

"Committee chairmen who have failed to make reports on the bills financed over seven months ago have until next week to do so. Sanction has been recommended by the leadership, and they may be relieved of their duties," Mr. Bankole warned.

He also gave some of the committees up till November to conduct public hearing on 55 bills referred to them or risk sanction.

Mr. Bankole said funds have since been released to the affected committees to organise the hearings into the bills and wondered why the committee leaderships have refused to initiate the public sittings.

The House Standing Rules empower the standing and ad-hoc committees to organise hearings into bills as part of the process of legislative functions. Section 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution also empower the committees to invite any person, authority, ministry or government department during an investigative hearing.

The committees are the engine room of the legislature. There are 84 of them in the lower legislative chamber.

Since he assumed duties in November 2007, the Speaker has issued threats to committee chairmen following their poor performance.

Twice in May last year, Mr. Bankole threatened some committee chairmen with sack over their poor attitude of members to work as well as the level of absence of some of the lawmakers. He had warned, on those occasions, that their performance would determine their placement in the committees.

In October of the same year, barely five days after he reconstituted the committees, the Speaker also threatened to starve the committees of funds if they failed to show more commitment to their assignment.

He told them that he would no longer tolerate a situation whereby committees, including the ad-hoc committees, would not compile and submit quarterly and session reports to the House leadership for assessment.

Also in 2008, he had stated that only 10 out of the then 72 committees had presented their reports for last session, adding that this had affected the assessment of the performance of the lower legislative chamber. Among the committees, he said were Rules and Business, Interior, Environment, Housing, FCT, FCT Council Areas and NDDC.