‘Don’t Take Over Our Role’ – Reps Warn Gbajabiamila To End Oversight Visits To Govt Agencies

The House of Representatives has warned the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, to henceforth end his oversight visits to government agencies as that is exclusively reserved for the National Assembly.

The deputy spokesman of the House of Representatives, Philip Agbese, who handed down the warning argued that lawmakers are by the constitution empowered to carry out oversight functions by way of visits, scrutiny, investigation and checking of books of government agencies to determine their performance.

As such he said various visits to government agencies by Gbajabiamila conflicted with his function just as it amounted to usurping the powers of the National Assembly, a second arm of government.

Gbajabiamila had reportedly carried out oversight visits to some government agencies, a situation a number of lawmakers frowned at noting that he’s no longer a lawmaker in case he had forgotten but a chief of staff.

The former Lagos lawmaker had reportedly made oversight visits to the National Agricultural Land Development Authority, the Bureau of Public Procurement, the Bureau of Public Enterprises, and the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission.

He also visited the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, the National Emergency Management Agency, and the National Hajj Commission.

Such visits usually yield gifts in form of cash and are always looked up to by lawmakers. Erring agencies dole out cash to shush lawmakers during such visits in order to ignore “reprimand” or “injurious revelations”.

Lawmakers especially those who head ‘juicy’ committees never fail to embark on what has been dubbed a money-making venture criticised as a jamboree. In some cases, the lawmakers fight for it.

Gbajabiamila’s visits are being seen as denying the lawmakers this part of the benefits as they could be insulated from the expected onslaught from the lawmakers.

Agbese however cautioned Gbajabiamila against any further oversight visits saying he cannot take over the oversight duties of the National Assembly during an interview session with some journalists in Abuja.

The lawyer had earlier said there was nothing wrong with Gbajabiamila’s visits when he said “What the Right Honourable Chief of Staff to Mr. President is doing is not in any way in conflict with our mandate as a Parliament.

“On our part, we encourage routine supervisory checks by members of the Executive in their duties over agencies and departments that are directly under their control,” Agbese said.

When reminded of the constitutional delineation of functions, Agbese clarified that “I did not say that the Chief of Staff to Mr President, Mr. Gbajabiamila, can oversight government agencies and parastatals. That role can only be played by the National Assembly.

“Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) provide for the power of the National Assembly to investigate the performance of anyone or body charged with the responsibility of executing the laws enacted by the parliament.

The lawmaker also said that Gbajabiamila was at liberty to visit government agencies, again clarifying that, “What I told the press is that the visit of the Chief of Staff as part of the executive arm is okay, but when it is called an oversight, it will conflict with the Constitution. Courtesy visits are in order, but they should not be seen as an oversight.”

The Lagos lawmaker was the speaker of the last house, the 9th assembly until his emergence as the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, who’s also from Lagos.

He is a long-time Tinubu’s political godson.

‘Don’t Take Over Our Role’ – Reps Warn Gbajabiamila To End Oversight Visits To Govt Agencies is first published on The Whistler Newspaper