DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE NIGERIA (DEVIN)
Wednesday, 4 November 2015
the standing committees of the upper legislative chamber.
Senate President Bukola Saraki on Wednesday constituted the standing
committees of the upper legislative chamber. Surprisingly, he assigned
some of the Grade A committees (believed to be “juicy”) to his perceived
“opponents” such as Ahmed Lawan, who chairs the senate committee on
defence, and George Akume, who chairs the committee on army. He also let
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) retain control of the media and
publicity unit of the senate by assigning the committee on publicity
to Eyinnaya Abaribe, spokesman of the seventh senate. Abaribe, who is a
PDP senator from Abia south, officially takes over from Dino Melaye,
who had been acting as the spokesman of the senate. The committees, as
announced by Saraki, showed that agriculture is chaired by Abdullahi
Adamu (APC), army by George Akume (APC), anti corruption by Utazi
Godfrey (PDP), appropriation by Danjuma Goje (APC), aviation by Hope
Uzodinma (PDP), capital market by Isiaka Adeleke, and culture and
tourism by Urhoghide Matthew (PDP). The Grade A committees are special
owing to their power of oversight over strategic institutions of
government and because of the monetary allocations attached to them.
Lawan and Akume had squared off against Saraki over the leadership of
the senate. The APC endorsed the two senators as its candidate for the
positions of senate president and deputy senate president, respectively,
of the eighth senate. But Saraki, against the wish of his party, went
ahead to stand for the position of senate president, and emerged winner
unchallenged on June 9. Following the development, APC senators loyal to
Lawan formed an opposing block against Saraki at the senate. One of
such senators is Kabiru Marafa (Zamfara central), who was also given a
committee to chair. On different occasions, Marafa had challenged the
legitimacy of the senate leadership, and at some point disrupted the
sitting of the senate over an endorsement of Saraki by 81 senators. This
may be a form of rapprochement on the part of Saraki to win the loyalty
of all APC senators.
Tuesday, 8 April 2014
About DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE NIGERIA (DEVIN)
DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE NIGERIA (DEVIN) is a community based, non-profit and non-governmental organization committed to social, economic and political development of Nigeria. DEVIN is made up of young Nigerian Professionals with multidisciplinary area of studies. We have a vision of a better tomorrow for Nigeria and entire Africa continent; we believe the major problem affecting Africa development is poor leadership and not lack of resources as believed in certain quarters.
DEVIN believes strengthening democratic institutions
and promoting active political participation by the masses are crucial to
sustainable development and the global war on poverty.
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