State creation, new minimum wage, other top stories from House of Reps

State creation re-echoes at House of Reps

After years of agitation to increase the number of states in the South-east, a bill to create an additional state in the region was introduced in the House floor last week.

The bill, sponsored by Ikenga Ugochinyere (PDP, Imo), seeks to create Orlu State and fulfill the demand for an additional state in the South-east.

The region, unlike others that have a minimum of six states, has only five. Therefore, the creation of an additional state could balance the region, except for the North-west, which has seven states.

Mr Ugochinyere, who represents Ideato North South Federal Constituency of Imo State, seeks to carve the new state out of Imo, Abia, and Anambra States, with Orlu as the state capital.

The bill seeks to amend the 1999 Constitution by inserting a new paragraph immediately after the Ondo State paragraph and before the Osun State paragraph, to read as follows: “State – Orlu, Capital City – Orlu.”

Although state creation bills are frequently introduced in the National Assembly, no civilian government has created a new state since the creation of the Mid-Western region in the First Republic.

The ninth National Assembly considered requests for the creation of 20 new states.

In the current 10th Assembly alone, there are also requests for the creation of states. Oluwole Oke (PDP, Osun) presented three bills for the creation of Oke-Ogun, Ijebu, and Ife-Ijesa states.

However, the process for altering the constitution to create a state is challenging and includes a referendum to be conducted by INEC in accordance with Section 8 of the document.

Minimum wage vs living wage

On Tuesday, the House spent hours debating the National Living Wage bill without reaching a consensus on what the ideal figure should be.

The House urged the federal government to consider a living wage instead of a minimum wage for Nigerian workers.

This resolution was the outcome of a motion of urgent public importance moved by the minority whip, Ali Isa (PDP, Gombe), on Wednesday during plenary.

The House urged the government to redirect the focus of the ongoing negotiations from fixing a new minimum wage to fixing a realistic living wage for Nigerians.

Speaking in support of the motion, the Deputy Minority Leader, Aliyu Madaki (NNPP, Kano), said the constitution makes provision for the welfare of Nigerian workers by the government.

“What we want is provided for by the constitution. If you look at section 16,” Mr Madaki said.

Also speaking in support of the motion, the Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers), criticised the government’s focus on the minimum wage.

But at the end of the long debate, the lawmakers did not provide any figures or define what a living wage is.

Mass Exit of Multinational Corporations

Another issue that caught the attention of the lawmakers was the exit of multinational corporations from Nigeria.

The lawmakers spent quality time on the motion to halt the exit of the companies from Nigeria.

In the end, the Green Chamber resolved to set up a special committee to halt the trend.

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The yet-to-be-constituted committee is to probe the cause of the mass exit of the companies and devise means to halt the trend.

The decision followed a motion moved by Babajimi Benson (APC, Lagos) concerning the exit of Kimberly-Clark, an American multinational consumer goods and personal care corporation.

This is the second time the House has moved to probe this trend within the last four months.

In February, the House moved a similar motion, but no action has been taken thus far.

South-east Development Commission

The South-East Development Commission (SEDC) Bill passed for the third reading in the House on Thursday following the consideration of a joint committee report.

The session, chaired by Deputy Speaker Ben Kalu, adopted the report submitted by the Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda.

The Commission, if signed into law by President Bola Tinubu, would help in rebuilding the South-east geopolitical zone, similar to the North-East Development Commission (NEDC).

However, this bill is coming amid calls for the review of existing ministries, agencies, and departments (MDAs) to cut down the cost of governance.

Some months back, President Tinubu announced plans to implement the Steve Oronsaye report with a view to cutting down the cost of governance.

Meanwhile, a bill for the creation of the South-East Erosion Control Commission (SERCC) was also introduced on Wednesday by Emeka Chinedu.