Posted on: Wed 03-05-2023

The leadership of the House of Representatives has slated Friday to meet with aggrieved health workers over exclusion by the Federal Government from the 40 per cent pay rise for public servants.

Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, announced the date after a lawmaker, Samuel Adejare, under personal explanation, briefed the House that health workers might not benefit from the federal government’s pay package.

Resident doctors have already given the federal government two weeks to ratify the exclusion or face a strike.

Gbajabiamila, however, asked Adejare to schedule a meeting with the aggrieved health workers for Friday in his office to interface with them.

Also at the plenary, the House adopted a motion by Mohammed Alkali on need to investigate the Ministry of Interior and the Nigeria Immigration Service on the process of producing and dispensing of Nigerian passport.

Presenting the motion on the subject matter, Alkali said the investigation was necessary to account for the monies disbursed to the Nigerian Immigration Service for the production of the smart passports.

According to him, the contract for printing of the passports was awarded to a single hand-picked company which he described as a breach to the procedure of fairness, equity and transparency.

He called on the Nigerian Immigration Service to suspend the contract, urging that an ad hoc committee be set up to fully investigate the circumstances surrounding the contract process.

Adopting the motion, the House constituted and announced Hafis Kawu as chairman of the adhoc committee.

The committee was given 10 days to conclude its assignment..

In a related development, the House also adopted a motion moved by Idem Unyime to urge the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, to complete abandoned hospitals and road projects in Ukanafun local government area of Akwa Ibom State.

It urged the NDDC to include hospitals and road projects in the 2023 Niger Delta Development Commission budget, while mandating its Committee on NDDC to ensure compliance.

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