Members of the House of Representatives will be approaching the New Year, 2018, with a lot of vigour and hope. However, they have many challenges which they must attend to, including the battle for return tickets from their various political parties. Our correspondent looks at the issues.

The year 2017 has been one full of activities for members of the House of Representatives who partake in various political activities in the country.

As they get set to usher in 2018 there are a number of issues that are on their tables, which they must clear. Based on observations by our correspondent, the most important thing that the lawmakers will grapple with is the fight for return tickets.

Being the year preceding elections’ year, 2018 will see many of the lawmakers doing everything in their power to clinch their various political parties’ tickets.

Although a Member of the House from Niger State, Abubakar Chika Adamu, of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), has already written his party at the state level that he would not be re-contesting, our correspondent gathered that most of the lawmakers will be seeking to re-contest.

A few of them may not re-contest due to the fact that they have not been able to recoup their financial investments politically, because unlike what obtained in the past where largesse would be shared among lawmakers for just no cause, the case is now different.

Suffice it to say that the office is now unattractive to some of the lawmakers. A number of times, some lawmakers, especially new comers, complained that had they known the situation in the House was like this, they would not have wasted their time to seek election in the first place.

However, many of them that will be interested in coming back will meet a brick wall in getting the tickets for a number of reasons.

First, constituents of many of the lawmakers accuse them of non-performance, which will greatly affect their chances of getting return tickets.

Considering the way Nigerian politics is, where money plays an important role, most of the lawmakers do not meet their financial obligations to their constituents, which will serve as an albatross to their second term aspiration.

Even if they do get the tickets, they may find it difficult to win the elections. This is simply because most of APC members in the House from the northern part rode on the back of the then APC presidential candidate and now President, Muhammadu Buhari, to win elections.

However, political analysts say the case will be different in 2019 because even the president will be battling with serious opposition. Thus, the lawmakers will be engaged in serious politicking.

Defections from one political party to another will be a prominent feature among members of the House in the coming year.

In the last one year, the House witnessed several defections, especially from the opposition PDP to the ruling APC.

In the month of December alone, two erstwhile PDP members in the House: Raphael Nnanna Igbokwe from Imo State and Johnson Agbonnyinma from Edo State, joined the APC.

When Igbokwe defected, the PDP members demanded that his seat be declared vacant in line with constitutional provision since, according to them, there was no faction in PDP as at now. But the opposition lawmakers openly jubilated in a dramatic turn of events when Agbonnayinma defected, describing him an outcast.

Lawmakers such as Hassan Saleh (Benue), Edward Pwajok (Plateau), Adamu Kamale (Adamawa), Zaphaniah Jisalo, among others, who came to the House under the banner of PDP are now in the APC.

As at the last count, more 10 than PDP lawmakers joined the APC, reducing the number of an otherwise vibrant opposition party in the House. The defections will surely continue according to Daily Trust findings as the lawmakers realign ahead 2019.

A PDP lawmaker told Daily Trust that politics was local and that when you saw members defecting from one political party to another, it was because the situation in their locality warranted such.

Thus, it was gathered that many of PDP members will be joining APC in the build up to the party’s primaries in late 2018.

Another issue that is on the table staring at the members is the 2018 budget. Unlike their Senate counterparts who have gone far with budget defence by engaging government agencies, only a few committees of the House have done so.

In fact, our correspondent gathered from a number of committee chairmen that the budget defence proper would start early February. Even the budget public hearing that the House plans to do is yet to take place.

Their action or inaction on the budget will determine when it will be passed and signed into law by the president.

Again, members of the House will be preoccupied with a thorny issue, which is the non-signing of the National Assembly Budget and Research Office (NABRO) Bill into law by President Muhammadu Buuhari.

Only last week, the Chairman of the Committee on Legislative Budget and Research, Timothy Golu (PDP, Plateau), told Daily Trust that the two chambers of the National Assembly had commenced the process of vetoing the president on the bill.

The NABRO bill has been in the National Assembly for over a decade, but it was passed by both chambers about three months ago and a clean copy was transmitted to Buhari to sign into law.

Golu hinted that since the president neither signed it into law nor communicated any reason to the National Assembly for his action, they had already started collecting signatures to override Buhari.

Should this happen, it will be historic considering the kind of robust relationship the executive has been having with the House in the last two and half years.

Concluding work on the ongoing constitution review is another issue that will top the lawmakers’ agenda in 2018. Though they had voted on various sections to be amended and forwarded same to state assemblies for further voting, the House, alongside the Senate, would have to conclude work on the alteration bill.

As a matter of fact, the House said on several occasions after transmitting the bill to state assemblies that it would revisit the issue of devolution of powers, otherwise referred to as restructuring.

When the lawmakers voted on the restructuring amendment, majority of members rejected it, and that drew a lot of criticism from some Nigerians.

By revisiting the matter, it means the House will draw a lot of attention to itself in 2018, considering the political undertone given to the issue.

The Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) is one issue that will also get a lot of attention from the lawmakers in 2018.

The bill has been in the National Assembly for over a decade but has not been signed into law. In fact, when the 7th House concluded work on the bill, President Goodluck Jonathan could not sign it into law.

The ad hoc panel constituted by the House to work on the consolidated bills that formed the PIGB, chaired by Chief Whip, Alhassan Ado Doguwa, has held a retreat on the bill but nothing has been heard since then.

Various panels of the House, both standing and ad hoc, will also be busy with the investigation of different matters referred to them.

For example, the ad hoc committee constituted to look into the status of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), headed by Rep. Abubakar Nuhu Danburam (APC, Kano), will be busy engaging heads of agencies such as the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

Already, the panel said it would approach the whole House to obtain an arrest warrant against NIMASA Director General, Dakuku Peterside, who served as a member of the House during the 7th Assembly.

A number of other committees too will be having different probes as mandated by the House in the year 2018.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/battle-for-tickets-defections-others-to-dominate-house-in-2018.html