From: Ndubuisi Orji and Kemi Yesufu, Abuja
The House of Representatives, on Tuesday, inaugurated a 20-man tactical committee to come up with suggestions on how to end the current economic recession in the country.
The ad-hoc committee, headed by Hon. Bode Ayorinde, has three months to conclude its assignment
Speaking at the inauguration, Speaker Yakubu Dogara, who described the committee as ‘the most important ad-hoc in the House presently’, said it was expected to interact with stakeholders in the economic sector on how to move the country out of recession.
He said the committee, which is a fallout of a motion passed by the House last month on the state of the economy, is aimed at ameriolating the suffering of Nigerians.
Dogara lamented that in spite of the abundant natural resources in the country, depended so much on oil, noting that the situation is compounded by the inability of successive administrations to save during the oil boom.
“Successive governments failed to save during the period of oil boom in Nigeria until we are confronted with the realities of this economic recession.
“As a parliament, we are committed towards ensuring that the sufferings experienced by the ordinary Nigerians are alleviated.
“We affirmed that the centre point of our legislative agenda will be to collaborate with the various arms of government and the Senate to legislate for the common good of the Nigerian citizens with emphasis on reforms that will promote rapid national growth and development, tackle poverty, unemployment…. Indeed, our major legislative initiative was to support diversification of Nigeria’s economy to foster its development from mono product economy to a multi-product economy,” he said.
Earlier, Hon. Ayorinde urged Nigerians to see the current economic recession as an opportunity for the country to rediscover itself. He said that way the nation’s economy can be returned to a path of stability and sustainable growth.
Ayorinde added that the committee will swing into action immediately by collaborating with other agencies of government and critical stakeholders in the economy to pull the nation out of the woods.
“We shall therefore join hands with other relevant authorities to provide succour to Nigerian people. In legal parlance we shall prosecute the recession with the speed of light and incarcerate it to where it rightly belongs, so as to return our economy to the part of stability, growth and development,” he said.
