Gagdi unveils manifesto, guarantees to finish “unlawful” funding of Reps committees

An aspirant for the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yusuf Gagdi, says he’ll cease the standing committees of the decrease chamber from relying on federal businesses to fund their oversight actions.

Mr Gagdi said this whereas unveiling his marketing campaign manifesto on the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja on Saturday.

Though he didn’t elaborate on how the funding is finished by Ministries, Departments and Companies (MDAs), the lawmaker, who chairs the committee on Navy, stated it’s an aberration of democratic observe and in opposition to the precept of the 1999 structure.

The structure ensures the monetary autonomy of the Nationwide Meeting. It’s positioned on the primary line cost within the federal funds. Nonetheless, committees of the Home routinely get monetary and logistics assist from MDAs they oversee in the middle of their official duties.

“It isn’t a great use of sources for the Home of Representatives to spend all of its time on institution payments. It’s an aberration of democratic observe for the oversight committees of the Nationwide Meeting to rely on the chief businesses underneath their purview to fund oversight actions,” Mr Gagdi stated.

Mr Gagdi, who represents Pankshin/Kanam/Kanke federal constituency of Plateau State, stated he plans to set off a dialog on how the parliament must carry out.

He acknowledged that the federal parliament has but to fulfill the expectations of Nigeria after 24 years of uninterrupted democracy.

He additionally promised to open up the actions of the Home to make sure transparency and accountability.

“The manifesto, I’m presenting to you at present articulates the inner reforms of the Home of Representatives I intend to pursue as Speaker, in addition to the coverage priorities I intend to champion via the legislative course of.

“I’m presenting this doc at present as a result of I need to provoke a nationwide dialog about what the correct perform of parliament in our nation must be.

“Twenty-four years because the return to democracy, the Nigerian folks have rightly come to count on extra from their parliamentary representatives. The power of the Home of Representatives to successfully meet these expectations depends upon the standard, capability and dedication of the members who serve within the parliament. It additionally depends upon how the inner operations of the Home are structured, designed and funded.

“We have to open the operations of the Home of Representatives to the Nigerian folks in order that they perceive why we exist and why it’s worthwhile to expend scarce sources on our operations,” he stated.

Mr Gagdi additionally promised to democratise the actions of the Home by “making certain that the disenfranchised voices in our nation are given an viewers on the chamber flooring and illustration within the halls of the legislature. We have to make the Home of Representatives a spot of, an enviornment of patriotic and clever discourse and enlightened, knowledgeable decision-making.”

‘North-west, North-east have had fair proportion’

Talking on zoning, Mr Gagdi stated Mr Tinubu and the APC have to be truthful to the North-central by zoning the speakership place to the area.

He stated the North-west and North-east have occupied the place for a mixed interval of 16 years, therefore the North-central ought to be favoured.

“I would like that very same spirit of justice, fairness and equity to play out within the election of the tenth Speaker of the Home of Representatives.

“We now have six geo-political zones, within the North, we now have three, the North-west, the North-east and the North-central. These three have proven that North-west had Ghali Na’Abba, Salisu Buhari, Aminu Masari and Tambuwal as Speaker.

“The North-east had our brother, Dogara as Speaker however from 1999 to this point, the North-central has no single Speaker.

“I urge our president-elect, who’s a expertise hunter, who’s a democrat to assist the celebration to zone the speakership to the North and in the identical spirit of justice, fairness and equity, that was proven within the presidential election of 2023 let it’s zoned to the North-central that has by no means produced the speaker from 1999 until date…” he stated.

Mr Gagdi requested the president-elect to take a cue from the northern governors that fought for energy shift to the south throughout the APC presidential primaries.

“Our president-elect, I’m following his footsteps as somebody that’s elected based mostly on his potential, based mostly on his antecedence, based mostly on what he means to Nigerians.

“I can’t keep in mind as an APC member the place Mr President-elect was endorsed as a consensus candidate for our celebration, no.

“It was solely zoned to the southern a part of Nigeria. I give my respect to the northern governors who got here out at the moment to say that the North has produced presidents for 8 years,” he stated.

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Mr Gagdi is one in every of 11 aspirants which can be jostling for the place. The others are the incumbent Deputy Speaker, Idris Wase (Plateau), Sada Soli (Katsina), Tajudeen Abbas (Kaduna), Muktar Betara (Borno) Tunji Olawuyi (Kwara), Abubakar Makki (Jigawa), Aminu Jaji (APC, Zamfara), Ben Kalu (Abia), Ado Doguwa (Kano) and Miriam Onuoha (Imo).

Nonetheless, indications are rising that Mr Tinubu and the APC have settled for a number of the aspirants.

Tajudeen Abbas (APC, Kaduna) and Ben Kalu (APC, Abia) have been reportedly tipped for speaker and deputy speaker, respectively.