Tajudeen and Kalu as Major Bills Sponsors in the Green Chamber

Udora Orizu takes a look at the antecedents of Hon. Tajudeen Abass and Hon. Benjamin Kalu who have been nominated as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively of the 10th National Assembly’s House of Representatives by the All Progressives Congress

After weeks of suspense and speculations, the National Working Committee of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Monday finally zoned the positions of the Senate President of the 10th National Assembly to the South-south, Deputy Senate President to NorthWest, Speaker of the House of Representatives to North-West and Deputy Speaker goes to SouthEast.

The ruling party also agreed on consensus arrangement with former Governor of Akwa Ibom state, Senator Godswill Akpabio being anointed as the Senate President of the 10th Assembly, Senator Barau Jibrin as Deputy Senate President  while Hon. Tajudeen Abass from Kaduna State and Hon. Benjamin Kalu from Abia State were anointed as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House respectively.

Currently about 11 serving lawmakers are jostling for the number four seat in the country. They are Hon. Idris Wase, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, Hon. Muktar Aliyu Betara, Hon. Sada Soli, Hon. Tunji Olawuyi, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, Hon. Aminu Sani Jaji, Hon. Miriam Onuoha, Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa and Hon. Makki Yalleman.

While the announcement has been rejected by some of the aspirants who feel their zone should have been picked by the party, they can, however, attest to the competence of the duo nominated to preside over the House in terms of how well they carried out their legislative business over the years.

Below is the profile of the lawmakers and their legislative achievements.

Hon. Tajudeen Abbas (Speakership Nominee)

Tajudeen is a member representing Zaria Federal Constituency in the National Assembly. He’s an educationist who started his political journey in 2011 when he was elected into the National Assembly to represent Zaria Federal Constituency. He was re-elected in 2015 under the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC).

The 59 year-old politician had served in various House committees such as National Planning & Economic Development, Public Procurement, Defense, Social Duties, Finance and Commerce. He also served as Vice Chairman at Legislative Compliance Committee from May 2011 to May 2015.

He’s currently the Chairman of the House Committee on Land Transport.

Tajudeen seems to be first to none in the 9th House of Representatives having sponsored 74 bills within the life of the National Assembly, 21 of which were signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Some bills sponsored by Tajudeen include Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019, HB 112: Public Procurement Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019, National Youths Welfare Scheme Fund (Establishment) Bill, 2019, Nigerian National Honours and Merit Award Commission Bill, 2019, National Universities Commission Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Federal University of Technology, Kaduna (Establishment) Bill, 2019, Federal University of Technology, Lagos (Establishment) Bill, 2019.

Others are, “National Blood Service Commission, Federal Medical Centres (Establishment) Bill, 2019, Federal Medical Centre, Abakaliki (Establishment) Bill, 2019, Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta (Establishment) Bill, 2019, Federal Medical Centre, Asaba (Establishment) Bill, 2019, Federal Medical Centre, Azare (Establishment) Bill, 2019, Federal Medical Centre, Bida (Establishment) Bill, 2019, Federal Medical Centre, Birni-Kebbi (Establishment) Bill, 2019, Federal Medical Centre, Birni-Kudu (Establishment) Bill, 2019, Federal Medical Centre, Ebute-Meta (Establishment) Bill, 2019, Federal Medical Centre, Yola (Establishment) Bill, 2019, Federal Medical Centre, Gusau (Establishment) Bill, 2019 and Federal Medical Centre, Ado Ekiti (Establishment) Bill, 2019.

The bills also include “Aso Villa Hospital, Abuja (Establishment) Bill, 2019, Federal University of Technology, Lagos (Establishment) Bill, 2019, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Alteration) Bill, 2019, Secondary School Certificate Examinations Standard (Regulation) Bill, 2019, Nigerian Legion Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Pharmacists Council Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019, National Environmental Standards Regulation and Enforcement Agency Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019.”

The ranking lawmaker is believed to be a man of unblemished integrity and is manifestly loved and trusted by his colleagues.

Speaking on his ambition, Abass said his pedigree and valuable contributions to lawmaking in the past 12 years are some of the factors that eminently qualified him to occupy the number four position in the country.

He noted that the Northwest, where he comes from, deserves the seat for some reasons, among which were the fact that the zone gave APC the highest number of votes during the presidential election and that with 92 lawmakers, the zone has the highest number of members in the House.

Hon. Benjamin Kalu (Deputy Speaker, Nominee)

Kalu is a member of the House, representing Bende federal constituency. He was elected into the National Assembly in 2019 and was appointed the Chairman Committee on Media and Public Affairs, a tedious job he carried out effortlessly.

For a newbie, it’s quite impressive all he has achieved in just three and half years as a lawmaker. He has sponsored over 40 impactful bills, a feat which some of the longest serving lawmakers are yet to achieve.

Some of the bills include: Federal College of Education Bende, (Establishment,etc.) Bill 2020, Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) Act (Amendment) Bill, Counterfeit Currency (Special Provisions) Act (Amendment) Bill, 2020, Dangerous Drugs Act (Amendment) Bill 2020, Acts Authentication Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Nigerian Meteorological Agency Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Nigerian Communications Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Internal Loans (Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Development) Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Public Accounts Implementation Tribunal Act (Repeal) Bill 2019, Official Secrets Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019, among others.

His most recent bill which seeks to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to delete the item “prisons” in the Exclusive Legislative List and redesignate it as “Correctional Services” in the Concurrent Legislative List; was assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Kalu is intelligent, charismatic and has shown competence and capacity in the discharge of his legislative duties. As a lawyer he will do exceptionally well as the Chairman of the constitution review Committee which according to parliamentary tradition is headed by the Deputy Speaker in the House of Representatives.

Based on the duo’s political trajectory, it can be objectively agreed that they have  enough experience, competence to build on achievements of the 9th House under the leadership of Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila to ensure stability and help achieve Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda.