Unrest in the House of Representatives over the sitting arrangements, office disbursement

Edited by Damilola Adeleke

Some House of Representatives members in Abuja on Tuesday protested the alleged intolerance in the allocation of seats and offices for the members.

The lawmakers, numbering about 100, who openly protested against the perceived inclinations, said the ugly trend was capable of causing setbacks in legislative activities.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the House Committee on Welfare, chaired by Rep. Olawale Raji (APC-Lagos), was saddled with allocating seats for members.

The protesting lawmakers were mostly first-timers, who described the seats allocated to them at one of the provisional chambers as unconducive as they were on the third floor.

Also, some of them protested the allocation of offices to the members.

According to the list issued by the Welfare Committee, 240 members were allotted for the second floor, while a few members, including some first-timers, were allocated seats on the ground floor.

Responding to the development, the Speaker of the House, Rep. Tajudeen Abbas, called for calm while assuring that the main Chamber, which is currently undergoing renovation, would be completed before the House resumed from recess.

Rep. Khadijat Bukar-Ibrahim, Chairman, Ad hoc Committee on Media, said there was a slight uproar during the plenary session.

She said the allocation of offices is the responsibility of the Welfare Committee, which had actually done the work and allocated offices to every member.

“And as far as the chairs are concerned, you know we are in a temporary seating area, so there are not enough seats for all members to sit downstairs. So, some have to be accommodated upstairs.

“So, there was a slight uproar, not a huge one about not hearing the mic from downstairs,” she said.

“Mr. Speaker had since directed that members should occupy any seat they find downstairs and everybody was happy,” Bukar-Ibrahim added.