Reps want one-lane traffic on River Niger Bridge

Reps want one-lane traffic on River Niger Bridge

Posted by Sylvester on Friday, March 28, 2014 0

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…as move to rescind cancellation of NIS recruitment suffers setback

 
ABUJA — THE House of Representatives, yesterday, asked the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission,FRSC, Osita Chidoka, to move his men to existing Niger bridge, Onitsha, pending the completion of the second bridge.

Chidoka is to further station the Corps’ towing vans on the approaches to the bridge to facilitate prompt removal of broken down vehicles.

This move was sequel to a motion promoted by Mr. Cyril Egwatu, who argued that human and vehicular traffic had increased tremendously since 1970 when the bridge was rehabilitated, after it was blown up during the Nigerian civil war.

Moving the motion, which was unanimously adopted without debate, Egwatu also argued that overloaded vehicles often broke down on the bridge obstructing the free flow of traffic, adding that even when the bridge was not originally designed for double lane traffic, reckless users had continued to form up to four traffic lanes on it.

Another motion promoted by Ahmed Idris seeking, among other things, approval of the House to cause President Jonathan to rescind his earlier directive to cancel the recent tragic recruitment by the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, and constitution of a special committee to do a fresh one suffered setback on the floor.

It would be recalled that the President had in the wake of the tragedy, ordered the cancellation last week, and raised a committee under the leadership of Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission, but Idris argued that the President’s directive contravened the provisions of the Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration and Prisons Services Board, CDFIPB.

Idris said this development was tantamount to total disregard of law, for the executive arm of the federal government to unilaterally constitute a separate committee to conduct fresh recruitment into the NIS when there was an existing law which gave such powers to the CDFIPB.

His submissions were, however, countered by Mr Nicholas Ossai who, through a point of order, drew attention of the House to Order 67, Rules 4 and 6 to the effect that there was a substantive motion already adopted, with a mandate to the House Committee on Interior to investigate the tragic incident, and would be out of order to take a fresh motion on the same subject matter.

But Minority Leader of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, argued that the said order referred to by Ossai did not contemplate general issues, but specific matters, which the illegal constitution of a committee was one.

He urged the House to take the matter on its specificity.

But the Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha, who presided, asked Chairman of the Committee on Interior, Umar Bature, whether the mandate for the investigation covered the current matter being raised.

While calling on the House to allow his committee finish the investigation first, the lawmaker explained that the CDFIPB Act recognized the Interior Minister as Chairman of the Board, implying that the subsisting motion would not yield anything differen