By Rasheeda Yahaya
The House of Representatives has promised to restore sanity in the judiciary.
Chairman of the committee, Honourable Wale Okay made this known on Thursday 2nd November while declaring the committee on Judiciary open at the House of Representatives.
Honourable Wale Okay has stated that he will ensure that the committee under his leadership will restore the confidence of the common man in the judiciary system.
He noted that the judiciary is a very sensitive ministry with at least three different arms of government under it and therefore deserves maximum attention.
The Chairman also highlighted the mandate of the committee which is to look at the strength of the judiciary, its assets, finances and other relevant areas
The chairman appealed to the secretariat to be hardworking emphasising that he is a workaholic and will want his team to be carried along.
He therefore urges the staff of the secretariat to avail their travel documents to be open for training both in Nigeria and outside the country.
Honourable Okay further said, that for the committee to have an effective and smooth handling of the tax mandated to it, the secretariat has to be fully equipped to face the challenges.
The motion was moved to adopt the committee by Honorable Olamijuwonlo Ayodeji Alao Akala of Ogbomosho North, South and Oriire Federal Constituency of Oyo state and was seconded by Engr. Hamisu Ibrahim representing Danbatta/Makoda Federal Constituency of Kano State seconded to adopt the motion to function as a committee.
Other issues raised were the chairman’s requests that the secretariat furnish the committee with information, strength and capability of its members and others.
The chairman of the committee also talked about the budget, what is on the ground and what needs to be upgraded, he said the committee needs to familiarize itself with the needs of the agency and that will take the committee around the country to know what is on the ground.
Wole said under his leadership it is going to be teamwork, stating that if there’s a need for an inspection of a court in any part of the country, a committee member who is from that area will go and inspect them and submit the report to the committee.
Also procurement role of the judiciary would be looked into, saying he is aware that the judiciary is also mandated to own their bank account, he therefore noted that the accountant general will be invited to make more clarification on the usage of the judiciary funds sighting examples on the budget on how it is being spent also the committee is going to inspect assets belonging to the Judiciary.
The committee is headed by Honourable Wole Okey from Lagos state while Barr. Mohammed Danjuma from Kano state serve as the Deputy chairman, other members of the committee include Honorable Fullata and Dr Medala amongst others.
The committee adjourned to Thursday next week.