Lawmakers at the House of Representatives failed to sit on Thursday after Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, angrily adjourned plenary till next week.
The Speaker who arrived at the Chamber around 11.20 a.m., furiously adjourned plenary over the absence of order paper.
He was also unhappy with the Clerk of the House for not being in his seat when he arrived. The Chamber was scanty at the time the Speaker got in with few members seated.
“I am going to hold you (the clerk) responsible, I am going to hold whoever is responsible. This House sits at 11.00 am, everybody knows that. This is 11:20 am, when I came in, there was nobody on this row. You were not here, none of your deputies were here. The order paper is not ready, we cannot function as a House.
“What kind of thing is that, that we are now forced to adjourn plenary. Everybody should see me in my office, House adjourned till Tuesday,” Gbajabiamila said angrily as adjourned plenary till next week.
The speaker arrived at the chamber at about 11.20 am, which for many is slightly early than the usual commencement time for plenary, even though plenary is scheduled to commence at 11:00 a.m.
The order paper is a program schedule that dictates the proceedings of the plenary.
As part of their early deliberations, members of the House of Representatives on Wednesday moved to investigate the alleged unfair recruitment process into the National Social Investment Trust Fund (NSITF) by the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
In a motion by Representative Ismail Tijani, he alleged undue favouritism for persons from one particular part of the country into the agency.
According to the lawmaker, the House is worried that the Minister’s alleged reign of impunity across the ministries and agencies under his supervision has continued unabated despite engagements and interventions by the National assembly.
