Describing the budget as too small, the spokesman of the House, Benjamin Kalu, said the percentage of transfers to the National Assembly did not reflect the increase in the number of statutory transfers in the 2022 budget. He noted that when the House had a budget with aggregate lower expenditure, it was from N150billion to N128billion.

He said. “This concerns the House. It concerns the House because, the statutory transfer as we have mentioned, there is an increase from N484.49 billion to N768.28 billion and that is a reflection of a 58.7 per cent increase; an increase of about N283.79 billion. Do you know that this increase does not reflect in the amount that comes to the National Assembly? But remember, when we had a budget with lower aggregate expenditure, it was reduced from N150 billion to N128 billion though, we have the challenges our forex and the challenges of the purchasing power of the currency; what we have is N134 billion? Do you know what N134 billion represents for the statutory transfer? Let me give you this example; in 2019, we had N125 billion given to the NASS and that is at the level of 1.42 per cent of the N8.83 trillion. In 2020, we had N128 billion given to National Assembly. That was a reduction from 1.42 to 1.18 per cent of that N10.8 trillion. In 2021, we were given N134 billion which now represents 0.98 per cent of N13.1 trillion but this year, we are given N134 billion again which is now representing 0.82 per cent here,”

The motion to that effect was sponsored by Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu, Deputy Whip of the House, Nkeiruka Onyejocha, House Spokesman Rep. Benjamin Kalu and 37 others.

In raising the motion, Rep. Okechukwu reported that “a gully has suddenly emerged on the Onitsha-Owerri Expressway around Oraifute, Ekwusigo Local Government Area, Anambra State”.

He reported further that “this development has cut the expressway into two parts leading to the entrapment of a fuel tanker laden with diesel in the gully”.

He said that “it took the intervention of the personnel of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to ensure that the contents of the trapped tanker were trans-loaded while the remaining portion of the road remains closed, to avoid loss of lives”.

He expressed concern that “the Onitsha–Owerri Expressway offers a bypass to several communities in the South-East as well as connects the South-East and South-South geopolitical zones of the country.

Worried that the present condition of the road has made the road completely impassable as same poses great hardship to motorists, other road users, host communities and constitutes threat to the lives of the people; hence the need for urgent government intervention”.

According to the mover, “several portions of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway are failing even while the contractors are still on the site”, as he expressed worries “that the rehabilitation works on the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway has been abandoned as evident in the immense hardship being experienced by motorists and other road users in the Amansea section of the expressway.

Concerned that the economic well being of our people is now in serious jeopardy which can lead to a great humanitarian and security crisis”.

He warned that if not quickly fixed, it may present an “opportunity to criminal elements to take undue advantage of these situations”.

The motion was adopted without debate, as the House resolved to “Call on the Minister of Works and Housing to commence urgent emergency repairs of the failed portion of Onitsha-Owerri Expressway with a view to easing hardship on motorists and Nigerians.

Investigate the ongoing failure of strategic portions of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway while the contractor is still carrying out rehabilitation works”.

The House also resolved to “Investigate the abandonment of the rehabilitation of Enugu-Onitsha Expressway which has led to the gory condition of the Amansea section of the expressway”.

His main opponent in the party primary, Okechukwu Ezeala had accused him of certificate forgery and impersonation, arguing he did not do a legal name change before contesting the election.

In the originating summons, Ezeala alleged that Kalu’s primary and secondary school certificates had irregularities, saying the surnames on his certificates are completely different from his current names. The lawsuit was initially filed before an Abuja High Court in 2000 but was rejected.

Commenting on the lawsuit on Friday, August 6, Kalu claimed it was a calculated attempt to smear his image.

He said “Maybe the name Rep. Benjamin Kalu is so sparkling clean for a politician who is rising. So, this is their way of attempting to sprinkle imaginary dents on my image. As a lawyer, I should have confidence in our judicial system and they have not failed me previously. They won’t start now. It is sub-judicial to begin to discuss the content of the matter in detail. Let’s be patient and allow the court to take a position on this. Again, my constituents, friends and family should not worry it will end in praise for what God cannot do does not exist. They shall gather and take counsel but it shall not stand, only the counsel of God shall stand. Let them dent my image. I am confident the truth will clean it. After all, when I signed for politics, I signed for smear campaigns like this. I have my eyes on the ball, it does not matter how threatened they are. I am going for the goal and not perturbed at all. They know this, that’s why they are paying all media platforms to discuss my simple change of name as illegal. The last I checked, it is within my right to choose how to be addressed and to document it legally as prescribed by law. So, because I changed my surname, it makes my certificates forged certificates. Quite laughable.”

Yesterday the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) asked the national assembly to suspend the infectious disease bill and to give room for consultations with state governments and other stakeholders. The Governors also disclosed that they were briefed about the bill by the Vice Chairman of the forum, Aminu Tambuwal during a virtual meeting.

However reacting to the statement from the forum, the house of representatives claimed that Tambuwal’s position on the infectious disease bill is influenced by his “personal and partisan opposition” to the emergence of the current house leadership under Femi Gbajabiamila.

In the statement released by the house of representatives’ spokesperson Benjamin Kalu on Thursday May 14, the Governors were told that their opinion will be welcomed by lawmakers.

The statement reads “It is rather surprising that the NGF, in arriving at its decision, relied on “an update from the Governor of Sokoto State,” who, apart from being a lawyer, is a former Speaker and an ex-ranking member of the House, who should know better and guide the Forum accordingly.
“We assume that his position was informed by his well-known personal and partisan opposition to the emergence of the current leadership of the house considering his obvious stance in 2015 and 2019 . Unlike in a constitution amendment matter, where state houses of assembly have a defined constitutional role to play in effecting any review to it, Bills such as the Control of Infectious Diseases are not by our constitution subject of concurrence of state houses of assembly or state governors. We do believe that our respected Governors are aware of this lawful processes of legislation and should not be misguided by a biased position of a former speaker. Notwithstanding, the House expresses its readiness to work with the Committee raised by the NGF to meet members of the Green Chamber on the Bill. The Governors are our critical stakeholders in nation building, and we understand the importance of working with our Governors at critical moments such as this pandemic period.”

Addressing newsmen in Abuja over the weekend, Kalu stated that the impression of the House of Representatives being useless and not carrying out its oversight function is not true as some of its activities has been impeded by paucity of funds.

Kalu said “Your observation about the financial problems of the committees, if any, is in order. The impression out there is not true. The House of Representatives is struggling with funds because the activities of the House are bigger than the budget. This is the fact. Many are not aware of this because they don’t understand the workings of the institution.  That is why we are working hard to open up the activities of the institutions so that people can understand what we do in the House. The activities are many while the funding is small. Many will not like to hear this, but this is the truth. The Speaker and the leadership are struggling to manage all the responsibilities of the House with the available resources. You will agree with me that the ability to harness available resources to meet a definite goal is the definition of management. The goal is to give proper representation to Nigerians and to make good laws for them. We are not even talking of the representatives’ functions that have to do with constituency projects. Let us focus on making laws and doing our oversight functions. The money is not enough. So, if any committee says we are struggling, it is because there is no money, and not because the leadership does not want to give them money. It is because they are trying to manage what they have and their scale of preference determines who they fund.
How would you have known, if the House of Representatives were useless and not carrying out their oversight functions? A motion was raised and in the wisdom of the leadership, they set up a committee. Look at what they are discovering there. They need money to do that job. I will still join my voice with the voices of those who are sincerely asking for more funds for the operation of the National Assembly. I say that, not wanting to know how the public will react, because many of them react in ignorance. When it is the House of Representatives, everyone screams without taking time to do critical analysis but with biases. It is time high we changed the narrative and began to let the people know the truth. I have been in my office since I resumed and I don’t have a computer from the government to do my job. This is the fact. All my aides don’t have facilities to do their jobs. They keep rationing these funds because it is the much we can do. So, I am asking the Nigerian public to be patient with us. What these committees are supposed to achieve, they will achieve them over time. But remember: we are operating on the same amount of budget that this House operated on 10 years ago. Look at the purchasing power of our currency 10 years ago and weigh it with what it can buy today. So, I agree with you that they are struggling with funds, but the leadership is doing something about it. Apart from paucity of funds, investigations take time. You may be asked to investigate for two weeks and in the course of doing that, you discover other things that may take you beyond that time.
You don’t have to stop because of that. All they have to do is request the House to extend the time because it is better to delay the period of investigation and get to the truth than to maintain the short period and deny some people the truth.”