A group of House of Representatives members in Abuja on Tuesday, staged a protest against the alleged bias in the assignment of seats and offices for the members.
INFORMATION NIGERIA reports that at least, 100 lawmakers openly demonstrated their discontent with the perceived favoritism, warning that it could impede legislative activities.
The allocation of seats for members was the responsibility of the House Committee on Welfare, led by Rep. Olawale Raji (APC-Lagos).
The protesting legislators were predominantly newcomers and expressed dissatisfaction with the seats allocated to them in one of the temporary chambers, deeming them unsuitable due to their placement on the third floor.
Furthermore, some of the lawmakers voiced their objections to the office assignments.
According to the list issued by the Welfare Committee, 240 members were assigned seats on the second floor, while a small number of members, including several newcomers, were assigned seats on the ground floor.
In response to the situation, the Speaker of the House, Rep. Tajudeen Abbas, appealed for calm and assured that the main Chamber, which is currently undergoing renovation, would be completed before the House reconvened from recess.
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Rep. Khadijat Bukar-Ibrahim, Chairperson of the Ad hoc Committee on Media, acknowledged that there was a minor commotion during the plenary session.
She clarified that the assignment of offices falls under the purview of the Welfare Committee, which had completed the task of allocating offices to every member.
“And with regards to the seating arrangement, as you know, we are currently in a temporary seating area, so there are insufficient seats for all members to sit downstairs. Thus, some have to be accommodated upstairs.
“There was a minor commotion, not a significant one, about difficulty in hearing the microphone from downstairs,” she stated.
“Mr. Speaker has since directed that members occupy any seat available downstairs, and everyone is content with that,” added Bukar-Ibrahim.
via: Information Nigeria
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