Members of the House of Representatives on resumption from a two-week have asked President Muhammadu Buhari to publish the handover report transmitted to by his predecessor, President Goodluck Jonathan in the official gazette of the federation.
The lawmakers passed the resolution after extensive debate on the motion sponsored by Uzoma Nkem- Abonta, who noted that the request was in line with provisions of sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Freedom of Information Act (FoI).
Some of the lawmakers, who spoke in favour of the motion, are Femi Gbajabiamila, Leo Ogor, Ajibola Famurewa, Oluwole Oke, Sunday Karim, and Aminu Shagari, chairman, Ad-hoc committee on Code of Conduct.
Meanwhile, Leo Ogor (PDP-Delta) said the resolution was not intended to investigate President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
Ogor, who noted that the presentation of the handover note was a normal practice, said “as a parliamentarian we all want this government to succeed, we will not pray for its failure as it will affect our various constituencies.”
In his lead debate, Nkem- Abonta said that handover note, which contains the activities, projects, programmes, achievements and constraints of the last administration including counsel to the new administration on the way forward, would assist the legislature in ascertaining the state of the nation as of May 29, 2015.
He however noted that the issues that would pose security threat to the country and restricted by some extant laws should be expunged before publication. “
The handover note as a public document and that some extant laws may place restrictions on the publication of some contents of the document.
The House realises that notwithstanding any such legal restrictions, it is apparent that only officials of the Presidency have access to the handover note, at the moment.
“The House is worried that members of the National Assembly, most of whom are new to the legislative business, require authentic information to ascertain the actual state of the nation, without which they may not be able to perform their legislative functions effectively,” Nkem-Abonta said.
