House of Representatives Creates Committees, Increases Friendship Groups

The House of Reps has again increased the number of its Committees from 177 to 199. This follows from the creation of additional Committees by the Speaker of the House of Representatives just before the House’s recess in December 2024. The new Committees are in the special category of what is described as “Friendship Groups.”

The new Friendship Groups or Committees are Parliamentary Friendship Groups which are also regarded as Committees in the House. According to the Speaker, with these new Parliamentary Friendship Committees, every member of the House will now head or be deputy in a Committee. The House of Representatives has a membership of 360 legislators.

There is however the concern that continually increasing the number of committees in the National Assembly, may be counterproductive as the unwieldy number of committees may constitute a hindrance to the efficiency of the National Assembly.

In the United States Congress, there are about 45 committees, depending on the number of active special/select committees at any given time and Committees of Congress are established based on constitutional authority, rules of each chambers, and resolutions or laws. There are 20 standing committees in the United States House of Representatives, while the Senate is made up of 16 standing committees. Each chamber has at most 5 select or special committees in addition to 4 permanent joint committees consisting of members from both chambers.

On the other hand, in the UK Parliament, Committees which are an essential part of the legislative process are created to oversee government departments. The House of Commons has 21 select committees and in total, the UK Parliament has about 60 active committees per parliamentary session.

Initially, Committees were created in the National Assembly to correspond with the number of Ministries or relevant Departments and Agencies of the executive. This kept the duplication of responsibilities low among the Committees. This has however changed over the years, with existing standing committees now split into multiple number of committees in order to spread the chairmanship and deputy of committees to NASS members for patronage purposes and to satisfy loyal supporters. The effect is the increasing clash in the responsibility of oversight by the conflicting Committees.

The Parliamentary Friendship Groups created are as follows:

1. Nigeria – Belize Parliamentary Friendship Group
2. Nigeria – Turkey Parliamentary Friendship Group
3. Nigeria – Bulgaria Parliamentary Friendship Group
4. Nigeria – France Parliamentary Friendship Group
5. Nigeria – Hungary Parliamentary Friendship Group
6. Nigeria – Thailand Parliamentary Friendship Group
7. Nigeria – Morocco Parliamentary Friendship Group
8. Nigeria – Venezuela Parliamentary Friendship Group
9. Nigeria – Netherlands Parliamentary Friendship Group
10. Nigeria – Philippines Parliamentary Friendship Group
11. Nigeria – Finland Parliamentary Friendship Group
12. Nigeria – Tunisia Parliamentary Friendship Group
13. Nigeria – Romania Parliamentary Friendship Group
14. Nigeria – United States of America Parliamentary Friendship Group
15. Nigeria – Russia Parliamentary Friendship Group
16. Nigeria – European Union Parliamentary Friendship Group
17. Nigeria – Bangladesh Parliamentary Friendship Group
18. Nigeria – Pakistan Parliamentary Friendship Group
19. Nigeria – United Arab Emirates Parliamentary Friendship Group
20. Nigeria – South-Korea Parliamentary Friendship Group
21. Nigeria – Lebanon Parliamentary Friendship Group
22. Nigeria – Libya Parliamentary Friendship Group
23. Nigeria – Spain Parliamentary Friendship Group
24. Nigeria – United Kingdom Parliamentary Friendship Group
25. Nigeria – Japan Parliamentary Friendship Group
26. Nigeria – Italy Parliamentary Friendship Group
27. Nigeria – China Parliamentary Friendship Group
28. Nigeria – Mexico Parliamentary Friendship Group
29. Nigeria – Saudi Arabia Parliamentary Friendship Group
30. Nigeria – Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group
31. Nigeria – Brazil Parliamentary Friendship Group
32. Nigeria – Singapore Parliamentary Friendship Group
33. Nigeria – Ireland Parliamentary Friendship Group
34. Nigeria – Canada Parliamentary Friendship Group
35. Nigeria – Switzerland Parliamentary Friendship Group
36. Nigeria – Pakistan Parliamentary Friendship Group
37. Nigeria – Qatar Parliamentary Friendship Group
38. Nigeria – Portugal Parliamentary Friendship Group
39. Nigeria – Sweden Parliamentary Friendship Group
40. Nigeria – Belgium Parliamentary Friendship Group
41. Nigeria – Austria Parliamentary Friendship Group
42. Nigeria – Australia Parliamentary Friendship Group
43. Nigeria – Malaysia Parliamentary Friendship Group
44. Nigeria – Greece Parliamentary Friendship Group
45. Nigeria – Poland Parliamentary Friendship Group
46. Nigeria – Bulgaria Parliamentary Friendship Group
47. Nigeria – New Zealand Parliamentary Friendship Group
48. Nigeria – Kuwait Parliamentary Friendship Group
49. Nigeria – Cuba Parliamentary Friendship Group
50. Nigeria – Caribbean Parliamentary Friendship Group
51. Nigeria – West Africa Parliamentary Friendship Group
52. Nigeria – East Africa Parliamentary Friendship Group
53. Nigeria – Central Africa Parliamentary Friendship Group
54. Nigeria – South Africa Parliamentary Friendship Group
55. Nigeria – North Africa Parliamentary Friendship Group
56. Nigeria – Indonesia Parliamentary Friendship Group