Abbas reshuffles leadership of reps standing committees

Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house of representatives, has announced a minor reshuffle of the chairpersons of the house standing committees.

In the reshuffle announced during a plenary session on Tuesday, Abdulmumin Jibrin, the outspoken legislator representing Kiru/Bebeji federal constituency of Kano, was reassigned from the committee on foreign affairs to chair the committee on housing and habitat.

Oluwole Oke, who chaired the judiciary committee, will now take over as chair of the foreign affairs committee.

The decision to move Abbas to the committee on housing and habitat may not be unrelated to the lawmaker’s experience in the housing sector.

Jibrin served as the executive director of research and innovation development at the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) between October 2021 and May 2022.

Jibrin, a fourth-term member of the lower legislative chamber, had served as chairman of the committees on finance, appropriation, transport and foreign affairs, respectively.

The oversight of the housing and habitat committees covers the federal ministry of housing and departments and agencies of the federal government which deal with housing, including all federal housing programmes and agencies, Federal Mortgage Bank, federal mortgage finance, implementation of mortgage policies of government, family homes fund (FHF), issues on housing and annual budget estimates of the ministry and agencies.

Jibrin’s committee is expected to “act as catalyst directly related to habitat agenda principles and commitment regarding sustainable development, as well as advise the house regarding networking regionally and internationally to strengthen dialogue and technical cooperation in the area of urban development strategies.”

The speaker also appointed Mamudu Abdullahi, All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker from Niger state, to chair the committee on judiciary.

Aminu Balele, an APC legislator from Katsina, was also announced the new chair of the committee on army.

Before their reassignment, Abdullahi chaired the committee on the army, while Balele led the committee on housing and habitat.

In 2023, Abbas constituted 137 committees, hiking the number from the 110 set up by Femi Gbajabiamila, his predecessor.