Senate Special Duties Committee outlines priority at inaugural meeting
……vows to oversight the president
By Haruna Salami
As the Senate settles down for serious legislative duties, most of which are carried out at the committee level, Chairman, Senate Committee on Special Duties, Senator Kaka Shehu Lawan (Borno Central) has assured Nigerians that the committee will leave no stone unturned in the course of carrying out its duties.
Many of the interventionist programmes of the Federal Government such as N-Power programme fall under the oversight functions of the committee and many Nigerians are waiting to see how the committee will be able to oversight the presidency, which squarely fall under the mandate of Senate Special Duties Committee.
However, Senator Kaka stated categorically that the oath they took when they were sworn in as senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria last June, where they pledged to uphold the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will guide all their actions throughout their stay in the Senate.
He said as members of the Special Duties Committee of the 10th Senate, the mandate of the committee spelt out in Senate Standing Rules will guide them to discharge their duties “without fear or favour, affection or ill will”.
“I want to assure Nigerians that we will leave no stone unturned. We are going to carry out oversight functions. We are going to engage, interact, conduct public hearings on the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians.
“We will make sure that the renewed hope mantra of the President succeeds.
“I also assure Nigerians that we are going to work with the media as the agent that will checkmate what we are doing and also what the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) are doing with the sole aim of enlightening Nigerians. The media are our partners to see that the right thing is done. So, all hands must be in deck to ensure that we achieve the desired results based on the mandate of our committee”.
On the suspension of the N-Power programme, the Borno senator said he was awaiting official briefing on the suspension and the substitution of a new programme, but promised as a lawmaker saddled with the responsibility of Special Duties Committee, that he will study the N-Power enabling Act as well as the bill before the Senate to see if there is no overlap and if the suspension is in the best interest of Nigerians, they will allow it go, otherwise he will “shout on the floor of the Senate” for its return.
It will be recalled that a bill before the Senate, which seeks to transfer N-Power programme to the presidency passed second reading last week. The big question now is whether the committee will investigate the programme so far and at the same time be able to oversight the president when N-Power is eventually transferred to the presidency.
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Senator Kaka, who replaces Senator Abubakar Kyari, immediate past Deputy National Chairman (North) and current Minister of Agriculture said he would wait until he is adequately briefed, but assured that Order 96 (55) of the Senate Standing Rules 2022 (as amended) clearly spell out the jurisdiction of the Special Duties Committee, the first of which is to oversight the office of the president and the presidency, adding that “transferring N-Power to the presidency, it is still under the purview of the committee”.
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