[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he House of Representatives has moved against the position of the 36 state governors to suspend further consideration of the controversial Infectious disease Bill and warned the governors to mind their business and allow the legislators at the national level to carry out its role of making laws for the country without control.
The lawmakers insisted that the public hearing will go on and culminate into the final passage of the Bill with an invitation to the governors to make a presentation during the public hearing Reacting to a communiqué issued by the Governors requesting the national assembly members to discontinue the consideration of the Bill, the legislators warned that the House of Representatives, nay the National Assembly was independent of the control of the governors or any governor for that matter and therefore they should mind their business .
They spoke through Honorable Ben Kalu, House spokesman, pointing that the House of Representatives and indeed the National Assembly are independent of the control of any state governor. This they argued has been a well known the case, except the constitution is about to be changed. “Let it be known that the House of Representatives, and indeed the National Assembly, are independent of the control of any state governor or former Speaker, except if we want to change that now. Even at that, it has to be by a constitutional amendment sponsored by the citizens and not by the personal view of one Governor and former speaker” Kalu said in a statement Reacting to the declaration by the governors to suspend the consideration of the Bill, the lawmakers expressed concern that rather than engage the leadership of the house on the Bill, the Governors relied on their colleague who in the opinion of the lawmakers is partisan and an opposition to the emergence of the current leadership of the House, given his role in the leadership elections in 2015 and 2019 The statement reads in part:
“It has come to the attention of the House of Representatives that the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has, through a communiqué at the end of its virtual meeting held on Wednesday, May 13, 2020, asked the House to step down the Control of Infectious Diseases Bill, 2020, which public hearing is already scheduled. “In the communiqué, the NGF noted that “Following an update from the Governor of Sokoto State and Vice Chairman of the NGF, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, on the proposed Control of Infectious Diseases Bill, 2020 introduced by the House of Representatives, Governors raised concern with the lack of consultation with State governments who are at the forefront of the epidemic.
” The House however warned that Bills like the contentious infectious disease proposed piece of legislation does not need the states assemblies and their over-lords governors’ concurrence but as critical stakeholders it is ready to work with the governors or the committee it raised to interface with the House but with a caveat that the membership of the Sokoto Governor be reviewed. “Notwithstanding, the House expresses its readiness to work with the Committee raised by the NGF to meet members of the Green Chamber on the Bill.
The Governors are our critical stakeholders in nation building, and we understand the importance of working with our Governors at critical moments such as this pandemic period.” The House is also concerned that the presence of the Sokoto State Governor in the NGF’s consultative panel may not guarantee a smooth interface, since in his capacity as a former Speaker he could not guide the Forum appropriately on the matter, and he appeared to have already taken a biased position. Thus, the House calls on the NGF to review the membership of the consultative committee so as to achieve the desired objectives with the unbiased members during their engagement with the leadership of the House