NASS: Complaints on refurbished chamber linger in Senate

• —as Whip describes it as Conference Room

By Musa Baba Adamu

Complaints by Senators on their  refurbished Chamber continued Tuesday , a week after bickerings about  sitting arrangements.

Recall that  Senate plenary was last week  Tuesday,  marred by complaints made by some senators on sitting arrangements in the renovated chamber.

The complaints led to a rowdy  session which lasted for about 15 minutes and eventually forced the Senate into executive session.

A week after ,  issues on alleged inadequacies in the Chamber were again raised , specifically by the Whip of the Senate , Senator Ali Ndume ( APC  Borno South).

Senator Ndume who raised the issues through Order 42 of the Senate Standing rules , said what supposed to be a Chamber, has been turned into a conference hall which according to him , is not acceptable .

“ Mr President , I rise to make disturbing observations on this supposedly renovated chamber through order 42 that deals with personal privileges .

“ Since day one , precisely last week Tuesday when we moved into this Chamber that supposed to have been renovated , there have been complaints here and there .

“ First was on sitting arrangements , followed by echoing of voices by microphones that are even not audible . No voting device , required facilities not yet provided .

“ We need to correct all these anomalies for the Hallowed Chamber to be what it supposed to be “, he said .

Concurring to Ndume’s  observations , the President of the Senate , Godswill Akpabio ,in his response , said the observations were well noted and the point of Order , upheld .

He however explained to Ndume that complaints on sitting arrangements among Senators , have been sorted out 99.9% just as he reminded him that contract for the renovation work was not done by the 10th National Assembly.

“ This is not our contract and not even National Assembly contract but that of the Federal Capital Development Authority ( FCDA) , the landlord of the National Assembly Complex .

“Observations on inadequacies in the renovated chamber, are welcome from time to time for required perfection but what we should be aiming at in the long run, is for us, as federal lawmakers,  to have proper autonomy on the National Assembly Complex and not continue as tenants of FCDA .”, he said.