Change Of Name For Reps Members, Same Unsatisfactory Representation

Members of the House of Representatives may cease to answer ‘Honourable’ if the bill to change the lawmakers’ title to ‘Representatives’ sponsored by the speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, sees the light of day.

The legislation is titled ‘A Bill for an Act to Amend the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, 2017.’

The House of Representatives, including the Speaker haas unofficially preferred to answer ‘Rep.’ before their names, instead of the ‘Honourable’ that has been the usual practice in the country.

This bill will legalise the change in the “address and designation of a member” of the National Assembly.

The bill seeks to insert new Sections 21 and 22 into the Legislative Houses (Powers And Privileges) Act, which reads, “(21) A member of the Senate shall be designated and addressed as a Senator and shall be entitled to have before his name the word ‘Senator’ during his term in office and for life.

“(22) A member of the House of Representative shall be designated and addressed as a ‘Representative’ and shall be entitled to have before his name the word ‘Representative’ during his term in office and for life.”

According to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and sponsor of the bill, it is essential to define the designation of the members of the house and addresses before their names as written in his explanatory note.

AllNews Nigeria, however, threw the development to Professor Ezeani Emmanuel Onyebuchi, a professor of Political Science at the University of Nigeria Nsuka (UNN) for scholastic reactions.

The University Don borrowed William Shakespeare's maxim, "A hood does not make a monk" to express his indifference to the proposition.

To him, the development will not alter the disappointment evident in ordinary Nigerians that the National Assembly hardly make laws with direct positive impacts on them.

"The truth is ordinary Nigerians are yet to reap the benefits of their laws.

"Nigerians are suffering despite the abundant human and mineral resources it boasts.

"Unless the National Assembly is also prepared to make laws that will directly impact us as a people, I doubt if this bill has any significance", he detailed in a phone interview with our reporter.