Posted by On Tuesday in Abuja, some members of the House of Representatives demonstrated against alleged discrimination in the distribution of seats and offices among the members.
About 100 lawmakers publicly objected against the alleged trends, claiming that the unfavorable tendency could hamper legislative activity.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), distributing seats to members fell on the House Committee on Welfare, which was presided over by Rep. Olawale Raji (APC-Lagos).
The majority of the protesting parliamentarians were first-timers, and they complained that their seats in one of the temporary chambers were as uncomfortable as those on the third floor.
Some of them also objected to the members’ being given offices.
240 members were given seats on the second floor, according to the Welfare Committee’s roster, while a few members, including some first-timers, were given seats on the ground floor.
Rep. Tajudeen Abbas, Speaker of the House, responded to the development by urging restraint and reassuring that the main Chamber’s refurbishment will be finished before the House returned from break.
The Ad hoc Committee on Media’s Chairman, Rep. Khadijat Bukar-Ibrahim, reported that there was a small commotion during the plenary session.
She said that the Welfare Committee, which had actually completed the work and assigned offices to each member, was in charge of allocating offices.
There aren’t enough chairs downstairs for all the members to sit because, as you are aware, this is a temporary seating area. Because of this, some must be accommodated above.
She explained that there had been a minor uproar about not hearing the microphone from downstairs.
Everyone was pleased after Mr. Speaker ordered that members take any seat they locate downstairs, said Bukar-Ibrahim.