The House of Representatives has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to name a chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission and other national commissioners.
House of Representatives
The House also asked the federal government to put in place a development plan to cushion the effects of the destruction wrought by Boko Haram in the northeast, The Sun reports.
The proposed development agenda being championed by the House is expected to cover the following states; Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, Yobe and Adamawa. They added that a specific sum of money should be reserved for the reconstruction of homes, villages and other infrastructure, adding that those displaced would also have to be rehabilitated.
The House pointed out that the INEC as presently constituted lacked the legal backing to carry out its constitutional functions of preparing for the forthcoming elections in Bayelsa and Kogi states.
Buhari had appointed Amina Bala Zakari, a national commissioner, as the acting chairman following the exit of Professor Attahiru Jega.
Sponsoring the motion in the House, Edward Gyang Pwajok, (PDP, Plateau), said the tenures of some of the national commissioners and resident electoral commissioners expired on August 10, noting that their continued stay in office is illegal.
In view of the forthcoming elections in Bayelsa and Kogi state s, the Houseasked President Buhari to quickly appoint a replacement for those whose tenures have ended.
The speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, sponsored the motion tasking the presidency to commence the rebuilding of the areas destroyed by Boko Haram.
This was said to be first time a speaker had sponsored a motion. He had to step down as a presiding officer and asked his deputy, Yusuf Suleimon Lasun, to take over after suspending the House’s relevant rules.
The motion was given an accelerated hearing and adopted by the House. It urged the president to give priority to the rebuilding of schools from primary to tertiary level, as well as to give children who were victims of the insurgency scholarships up to university level.
The House also recommended that hospitals, markets, border posts, bridges and other infrastructure destroyed by the insurgents should be rebuilt.
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