Headlines
Cash Crunch: NASS Reduces Sittings to Once a Week
The two chambers of the National Assembly may not meet the mandatory constitutional requirement of 181 sittings yearly because of reduction in number of sitting days to once a week.
Section 63 of the Constitution provides that the Senate and House of Representatives shall each sit for not less than 181 days in a year. And section 68 thereof states that any legislator who fails to attend the proceedings of the House or Senate for less than one third of the required number of days shall automatically lose his or her seat.
Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the House of Representatives has been sitting once a week as opposed to the usual three times per week. The Senate has been struggling to hold plenary session twice, and in some cases once, per week.
It was learnt that insufficient funds to carry out legislative works caused the inability to have three sittings in a week.
Apart from the legislative business of the National Assembly which is being adversely affected, there is also the problem of delay in payment of allowances and other entitlements of the lawmakers allegedly caused by non-release of funds by the Ministry of Finance as when due.
The Guardian gathered that concerted efforts to persuade the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, to release some funds failed.
A lawmaker, who spoke in confidence, revealed that the First Line Charge budgetary provision for the National Assembly has not been met for a long time since this administration came in.
“Also, informal methods of raising fund from federal agencies to support parliamentary needs are no longer as effective as they were,” he added.
It was learnt that following the failure of some committees to get the minister to act, the entire leadership of the National Assembly invited her for questioning.
At the meeting, questions were put to Ahmed on why the constituency projects accommodated in the 2020 budget have not been implemented satisfactorily.
The National Assembly had, in December, 2020, extended the capital component of that year’s budget to March 31, 2021 to give the executive enough time to implement it.
Most painful to the lawmakers, some of whom, have resorted to quiet protest against the National Assembly leadership, is the non-implementation of the zonal intervention programmes, popularly called constituency projects.
Another lawmaker said that visiting constituencies or Senatorial Districts had become a nightmare for legislators because of the unrelenting pressure from their constituents.
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
