The Speaker of the House of Representatives Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara (APC: Bauchi) has dissolved 17 Ad-Hoc Committees that were constituted before the inauguration of Standing Committees on 9th November 2015. Making the announcement at the plenary session of the House on Thursday, March 23rd, 2017, Hon. Dogara stated his decision to dissolve all 17 ad-hoc Committees bordered on non-performance and failure to conclude assignments within the given time frame and called for an immediate dissolution irrespective of whether the Ad-Hoc Committees had carried out any activity or not.
Some of the affected Ad-hoc Committees include:
- Ad-hoc Committee to investigate alleged fraudulent practice in the collection and management of non-oil remittances by MDAs chaired by Hon. Chike Okafor (APC: Imo)
- Ad-hoc Committee on the huge debts and alleged fraudulent sale of banks by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) chaired by Hon. Albert Adeogun (PDP: Osun)
Currently in the House of Representatives, there are 96 Standing Committees . These Committees are permanent legislative units established by the House of Representatives Standing Orders. Because they have specific jurisdiction, Standing Committees deliberate on the issues under their mandate e.g. health, pensions, banking etc. and make recommendations for consideration by the chambers. They do in-depth review of bills and also have oversight responsibility over government agencies, their programs and activities.
Ad-hoc Committees are temporary in nature, as they are set up for a certain purpose and usually dissolved after the completion of their task or achievement of their objectives.
Click here to view the list of the 17 House Ad-hoc Committees dissolved
