Few days after the emergence of principal officers in both Senate and House of Representatives, lawmakers in both chambers have intensified lobbying for the chairmanship of committees.
The Senate leader, Michael Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti) had on Tuesday, July 6, informed journalists that the red chamber would constitute special and standing committees before the end of the month.
Bamidele had said with the emergence of the majority and minority caucus, which makes up the principal officers, they would hit the ground running.
The Senate has about 70 standing committees but the most sought-after include: Appropriation, Finance, Judiciary, Public Accounts, Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Works and Niger Delta Development Commission.
Other committees are Power, Health, Tertiary Education and TETFUND, Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Gas, Defence (Army), Communications, Aviation and Independent National Electoral Commission.
They are referred to as ‘juicy’ because of the largesse and other opportunities available to the chairmen heading the committees.
Since the principal officers have been constituted, senators eyeing heads of various standing committees have intensified their lobby, deploying different strategies to outdo one another in the race.
In their quest to get key committees, sources say that senators were avoiding being confrontational to the leadership of the Senate and resorting to accompanying the presiding officers wherever they go so as not to be forgotten.
It was not immediately clear if some names had been penciled down, senators who worked for Akpabio during the campaign for Senate presidency race have stepped up their push for heads of juicy committees.
Politics Nigeria understands that the presiding officers usually reward lawmakers that worked for their emergence with such juicy committees.
For instance, Senator Adeola Olamilekan Solomon (APC, Ogun West), who was among the top campaigners for Akpabio, was said to be jostling for the chair of the appropriation committee.
Adeola, who chaired the finance committee in the 9th Senate, is always seen around Akpabio in and out of the National Assembly.
Though the presiding officers have the discretionary powers to name any lawmaker as chairman of any committee, sources said the selection would be based on lawmakers’ areas of specialisation and competence.
Similarly, intense lobbying and jostling for juicy committees are ongoing in the green chamber among members even as the House is said to be planning to increase the number of standing committees.
