As Reps’ agenda unfold

This willy-nilly set the stage for the making of history in the unconventional emergence of the leadership of the nation’s 7th House of Representatives.  Against the stern position of the presidency and the PDP which insisted on its already breached zoning principle, the nascent Seventh Session House of Representatives served notice that the era of […]

This willy-nilly set the stage for the making of history in the unconventional emergence of the leadership of the nation’s 7th House of Representatives.  Against the stern position of the presidency and the PDP which insisted on its already breached zoning principle, the nascent Seventh Session House of Representatives served notice that the era of imposition of its leadership was over. In something akin to a revolution, it enforced the new thinking through a populist, multi-partisan consensus.

Looking back now, the emergence of Hon. Aminu Tambuwal as Speaker and Hon. Emeka Ihedioha as Deputy Speaker, is being seen as a natural antidote to the subsisting confusion then. Clearly, the ascendancy of Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and Hon. Emeka Ihedioha as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively, was the defining political milestone of 2011. Tambuwal dramatically demonstrated the power of conviction over unprincipled political posturing. But perhaps, more importantly, he demonstrated maturity beyond his years by tracking back to his party leadership and skillfully courting acceptance and accommodation following his populist parliamentary ‘coup.’

His proclamation of a reasoned, activist parliamentary agenda for the Seventh House is also a noteworthy point in the nation’s troubled political evolution. Today, the leadership duo of Tambuwal and Ihedioha has provided remarkable stability in the Lower House and significantly imbued it with the aura of taking populist positions on major issues of public interest. The latest being the fuel subsidy regime termination controversy.The astute handling of both the sudden presidential zero-subsidy move and the public heat it generated are clearly throw-backs to the legislative agenda, at the outset, which resolved to do things differently. It could be recalled that an ad hoc committee was set up by the House of Representatives to probe Management of Petroleum Subsidy regime. This stemmed from a resolution passed by the House during an emergency session on January 8, 2012.

The resolution stemmed from the sudden, complete withdrawal of the petroleum subsidy by the government, a scenario which led to the overheating of the polity for several days.The ensuing Lawan Farouk-led House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on Management of Petroleum Subsidy Fund has clearly delivered a qualitative and commendable oversight project. After three weeks of gripping disclosures, on Thursday, February 9, the long public hearing conducted by the Farouk-led House Committee concluded its sittings.

While the investigation lasted, several shocking revelations of shoddy deals perpetrated by the actors in the downstream turf of the petroleum industry were made public. The scope of revelations and depth of contrived operational opacity of the oil industry tell a gory story of the criminality that has defined the country’s prominent life-line economic sector – with official connivance. Strangely, the submissions of about 140 oil firms that participated in the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) who appeared before the probe panel to explain their roles raised more questions than answers. Till the time the panel concluded sitting, nobody had a precise figure of the amount expended by the Federal Government on subsidy in the last appropriation. Neither the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) nor the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had an accurate account of how much was involved. Perhaps, the most significant dimension to the probe exercise were the efforts to derail the whole project by shadowy, powerful forces.

Committee leader, a sound lawmaker; Hon. Farouk, even confirmed that some forces reached out to him to help thwart the thrust of the committee. Riding high on principle and conviction, he reportedly neutralised the criminal moves. This speaks a lot about the resolve of the 7th House and its leadership to get things right and indeed, leverage Nigeria. Perhaps this is not surprising. According to Speaker Tambuwal, in ‘Time To Remake Nigeria,’ his inaugural speech, “We will be responsive, transparent and accountable in all we do. My period of service as the Speaker of this hallowed chamber will restore the House of Representatives as an institution where the will of the people is done.” What is being witnessed today is fundamentally the unfolding of the no-nonsense agenda of the 7th House.The oil sector probe by the Reps would surely go down in history as one of the most important triggers that set Nigeria on the path of transparent operations of the most important industrial sector in the country. Their efforts now await the complimentary action by the executive to put the seal on an extraordinary project to rescue Nigeria from human predators. This is certainly doing things differently.

Gerald wrote from Lagos