Leke Baiyewu, Abuja
The House of Representatives has approved President Muhammadu Buhari’s request for the appointment of 15 Special Advisers.
This is as the chamber decried the worsening condition of over 773,000 Internally Displaced Persons in the camps in Borno State.
The request for the appointment of the SAs, which was presented as a motion at the plenary on Thursday by the Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, was unanimously approved by the lawmakers.
Buhari had last week written to the House to seek legislative approval for the appointments. The Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, read the letter at the plenary.
Making the presentation, Ado-Doguwa said, “The House notes that pursuant to the provisions of Section 151 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has power to appoint any person as a special adviser to assist him in the performance of his functions.
“The President, in a message on July 9, 2019, to the House of Representatives requested the approval of the House to appoint 15 special advisers.”
Doguwa prayed the chamber to approve Buhari’s request in accordance with the provisions of Section 151 of the constitution and to transmit the approval to the Senate for concurrence.
The prayers were unanimously granted.
Meanwhile, the house decried the worsening condition of over 773,000 Internally Displaced Persons in the camps in Borno State.
The lawmakers at the plenary on Thursday urged the Federal Government to “immediately” commence infrastructural works in Bama/Ngala/Kala Balge Federal Constituency of Borno State to enable partners to resume humanitarian services.
They also urged the North-East Development Commission to seek avenues of strategic collaboration with the development partners “so that they will continue to provide humanitarian services to the people affected.”
The chamber also urged the National Emergency Management Agency to expeditiously provide relief materials for the new returnees and the IDPs, while mandating the Committees on the IDPs, Refugees and Initiatives on the North-East Zone and the North East Development Commission to ensure compliance.
These were parts of the prayers of a motion moved by a member, Zainab Gimba, which were unanimously adopted.
According to the lawmaker, there is currently a total of 773,626 IDPs who have been forced out of their homes and living in shanties all over the constituency.
Gimba said, “The house notes the increasing humanitarian crisis affecting the people of Bama/Ngala/Kala Balge Federal Constituency of Borno State. The new returnees are largely from the bordering countries of Chad and Cameroon republics.
“Most of the new returnees and the IDPs have suffered untold hardship getting the basic needs of livelihood like food, shelter and clothing.
“If nothing is done to ameliorate the situation, the humanitarian crisis will further worsen, with the onset of the rains which would create a major food shortage for the people.”