Members of the House of Representatives can no longer be called ‘Honourables’ as the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, has sponsored a bill that seeks to change the appellation of lawmakers to ‘Representatives’.
The legislation is titled ‘A Bill to Amend the Legislative Chambers (Powers and Privileges) Act, 2017’.
Already, the members of the Ninth House, including the Speaker, have been using ‘Rep.’ before their names, instead of the ‘Honourable’ or ‘Hon’ which has long been in use.
Gbajabiamila is now seeking to legalize the change in the “address and appointment of a member” through the amendment bill.
The bill seeks to insert the new Sections 21 and 22 in the Law (Powers and Privileges) of the Legislative Chambers, which reads: “(21) A member of the Senate shall be appointed and treated as a Senator and shall have the right to have before his name the word ‘Senator’ during his term and for life.
“(22) A member of the House of Representatives shall be appointed and treated as a ‘Representative’ and shall be entitled to have the word ‘Representative’ before his name during his term of office and for life.”
The Spokesperson wrote in the explanatory note: “This bill seeks to define the designation and domicile before the name of a member of the National Assembly.”
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