Gbajabiamila Announces Death Of Former House Of Rep Member

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila (All Progressives Congress, APC-Lagos), has announced the death of a former member of the house, Rep. Tony Okey.

Naijaparry reports that Gbajabiamila, who made the announcement on Wednesday at the plenary, said that the late Okey was a member of the Fourth National Assembly.

The speaker said that Okey meritoriously and selflessly served the country in the green chambers from 1999 to 2003.

The house, in line with its tradition, observed one minute silence in honour of the former lawmaker and prayed for the peaceful repose of his soul.

Similarly, the immediate past Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on USA/Nigeria Parliamentary Relations, Rep. Johnson Agbonnayinma, has announced the death of his mum, Mrs Cecilia Agbonayinma.

In a statement issued by the former lawmaker, Mrs Cecilia Agbonayinma died in the early hours of November 22 after a brief illness.

Reps call for water infrastructure audit across Nigeria
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has urged the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to carry out a comprehensive audit on water infrastructure across the country.

This was sequel to a unanimous adoption by Rep. Awaji-Inombek Abiante (Peoples Democratic Party, PDP-Rivers) at the plenary on Wednesday.

Moving the motion earlier, Abiante said that a survey conducted by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Revealed that millions of households in Nigeria do not have access to clean water.

He said that World Bank’s statistics revealed that about 51 per cent of Nigerians reside in the rural areas, areas most challenged in portable water availability.

The Rep said that the poor access to improved water remain a major contributing factor to high morbidity and mortality rates in Nigeria especially from waterborne diseases of cholera, dysentery, diarrhea among others.

According to him, water supply in Nigeria is shared between the three-tiers of government, Federal, State and Local governments.

“In spite of the huge amount being budgeted annually for the provision and supply of clean water to Nigerians by the three-tiers of government, majority of Nigerians, either living in urban or rural areas still have no access to clean water sources.

“Thepoor coordination of water infrastructure intervention by the three-tiers of government constitute a major challenge towards adequate provision of clean water to Nigerians.

“The duplication of efforts by various government agencies to provide clean and portable water in our communities have not yielded any positive result, rather it shows enormous waste and abandonment,” he said.

Abiante said that if there is a comprehensive audit of water infrastructure in the country, it would ensure better coordination by all the relevant agencies of government.

According to him, complementary effort is rather better than duplication which can be used to ensure adequate supply of clean, safe and portable water in our communities.

The house urged the ministry to use the outcome of the auditing to draw a roadmap which will include complementary efforts of relevant agencies to achieve adequate supply of clean, safe and portable water to Nigerians.

In his ruling, the Deputy Speaker of the house, Rep. Ahmed Wase (APC-Plateau) mandated the Committee on Water Resources to ensure compliance.