Reps hustle for office posts

Firstclass newsline learnt that members of the House of
Representatives have begun lobbying for choice office spaces just
three days after Speaker Yakubu Dogara inaugurated an Ad Hoc Committee
on Welfare to facilitate the settling down of the 360 lawmakers for
their legislative duties in Abuja.
The committee was inaugurated on Tuesday on his behalf by the Deputy
Speaker, Yusuf Lasun.
The committee, which is chaired by Bashir Baballe –Illa is charged
with the responsibility of allocating offices and and equipping the
lawmakers' offices as well as processing the payment of their
allowances.
However,firstclass newsline learnt on Thursday that soon after the
committee took off, disagreements ensued among the lawmakers over
choice of offices.
Findings on Thursday showed that many members had already written to
the Sergeant-at-Arms to the National Assembly demanding that certain
offices be retained for them.
It was gathered that such letters came mainly from the returning
members of the House.
A National Assembly official source who confided in our correspondent
said, "On the take-off of the committee, some of the letters were
referred to the committee, conveying the demands of the members.
"I think the problem is that there are persons who have some sort of
attachment to particular office spaces and they have asked that
they(offices) should not be re-allocated.
"There are members who are equally not comfortable with this idea and
they have complained."
It was learnt that the most sought after offices were those located on
the third and the fourth floors of the House of Representatives New
Building.
Offices on the fourth floor are the most sought after because of their
proximity to the offices of the speaker and other principal
officers.
By tradition, the speaker, the deputy speaker, the House leader, the
Chief Whip, the deputy leader, the Minority leader and other principal
officers occupy offices on the fourth floor.
Other offices on the same floor and the third floor are shared in
order of ranking or the influence of the occupants.
Findings indicated that a member from one of the South-South states,
said to have been in the House since 1999, pasted a bold notice on the
office he occupied in the 7th Assembly, saying that he would want to
retain the same office.
The message read , I am a returning member and I will like to retain
my present office."
Several returning members pasted similar notices on the third floor.
Out of the 360 members of the House, only 127 are returning from the
7th Assembly set. The majority of 233 lawmakers are new comers.
One senior member told a source that the squabble over offices was
"unnecessary " because the tradition was that offices were allocated
according to seniority or "ranking."
"If you go to the chamber, it is the same ranking that decides how
seats are allocated. Front rows are for principal officers and the
most senior members in that order," the member added.
A source made unsuccessful efforts on Thursday to get Baballe-Illa a
to comment on how his committee was handling the issue.
However, a member of the committee, Abdulrazak Namdas, said they
were ready to address any issues raised by members.
He disclosed that one step taken so far was to allow any member who
wished to keep their offices to do so.
"Yes. We have made it a policy such that if you are a returning
officer and you want to retain it (office), we allow you to retain
it," Namdas stated
Firstclassnewsline.net.