The House of Representatives is to constructively engage President Muhammadu Buhari on how to resolve the impasse on the fourth alteration to the 1999 constitution, which former President Goodluck Jonathan withheld assent.
Speaker of the House, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, disclosed this in his office when he received members of the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room who paid him a courtesy call. He said the seventh House had amended its rules to ensure that bills passed in the previous assembly do not suffer denouement.
Dogara noted that the number of pending bills was worrisome, but that the House would compile all such bills, particularly those passed and are awaiting presidential assent.
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He said the lacuna in the signing of the amended constitution: the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and the National Assembly Budget and Research Office (NABRO) bills were topmost on the agenda.
The Speaker also urged Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to carry out a National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) assessment on the National Assembly so as to help set an agenda for the Nigerian legislature.
He explained that such an assessment should be independent of the National Assembly and the outcome sent to them for consideration.
He assured that his administration would place premium on the integrity of the budget process, adding that the alleged non transparency in the process has been the cause of crisis between the National Assembly and the CSOs.
Earlier, Leader of the delegation and Executive Director of Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), Mr. Clement Nwankwo, urged the House to ensure that priority bills such as PIB, Constitution Review and NABRO are passed and signed into law.
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