Reps To Hold Emergency Plenary On Monday

The House of Representatives has again called for an emergency sitting to be held on Monday, April 9, 2022 to discuss critical issues of national importance.

This is the second emergency sitting to be held by the House within one week.

The House had abruptly recalled members from recess to hold plenary last week Wednesday in order to pass some important Bills, so as to meet international deadlines and afterwards adjourned till May 24.

A statement by the Clerk of the House, Dr Yahaya Danzaria, on Saturday, said the House is to hold another emergency plenary on Monday.

“This is to inform all Hon. Members, staff, media and the general public that the House hereby recalls all Hon. Members for an emergency plenary session against Monday, 9th May, 2022 at 2:00pm.

“It is particularly intended to discuss critical issues of national importance. The House regrets any inconvenience this short notice would have caused,” the clerk said.

Although, the clerk did not disclose the specific agenda for the plenary, however, it may not be unconnected with the planned shutdown of flight operations by the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) over rising cost of aviation fuel.

The AON had has threatened to shut down flight operations in the country by Monday, May 9, 2022 due to the unbearable high cost of aviation fuel (JetA1) from N190 to N700 per liter.

Meanwhile, the Minority Caucus in the House has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to take immediate steps to avert an imminent shutdown of flight operations in the country as such would have grave consequences on national life.

According to a statement by the minority leader, Ndudi Elumelu, the worrisome development in Nigeria, a major producer of oil, was another very sad commentary on the unpardonable failure, corruption, incompetence, negative policies and lack of capacity of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration to effectively manage our national economy.

“As representatives of the people, the Minority Caucus is concerned because aviation is pivotal to the operation, sustenance and survival of other key sectors of the economy and any shutdown of flight operations will have devastating spiral effect and worsen the excruciating economic hardship and further escalate insecurity in the country.

“This is because apart from the direct disabling of thousands of aviation related jobs and ancillary businesses, a shutdown of the sector will also have grave negative impact on critical government and public sector activities which are sustained by air travelling.

“It is instructive to note that the aviation sector is no longer an exclusive reserve of the elite, but plays central role in the movement of personnel and equipment that drive and sustain services and operations which benefit the masses in healthcare, manufacturing, education, food production, telecommunication, retailing, banking and finance, hospitality, entertainment, power, security and other key sectors,” he said.

Elumelu added that a shutdown of the aviation sector would cripple millions of businesses as well as economic and commercial activities thereby increasing unemployment, worsen the economic hardship, put pressure on our already ailing roads and exacerbate insecurity in our country.

“Moreover, the situation is a huge threat to our national integrity as it erodes the confidence of the International Community and foreign investors in our country thereby encouraging the movement of investments to neigbouring countries.

“The Minority Caucus therefore calls on President Buhari to wake up, note the grave import of the situation and save the aviation sector from imminent collapse by immediately addressing the fuel crisis and other challenges in the industry.

“Mr. President should critically address the crisis in the petroleum industry by reviewing the counter-productive policies and curbing the corruption in his administration so as to save our national economy from collapse under his watch,” Elumelu added.