From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Land Transport, Tajudeen Abass, the Chief whip, Tahir Monguno and the chairman, House Committee on Treaties and Protocol, Ossai Ossai have emerged tops in the sponsorship of bill in the ninth House with 74, 53 and 47 bills respectively.

An appraisal, on bill sponsorship in the ninth House prepared by Order Paper Advocacy Initiative, a civil society organisation in conjunction with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) project by Palladium, indicated said a total of 2,727 bills were initiated by the lawmakers since the inception of the present assembly.

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Others among the top sponsors of bill in the ninth assembly include the chairman, House Committee on Media, Benjamin Kalu with 45 bills; Sergius Ogun, Esan north/Esan south east federal constituency of Edo state with 43 bills and Uzoma Nkem Abonta, Ukwa East/Ukwa West federal constituency of Abia, 40 bills.

Similarly, Waive Ejiroghene Francis, Ughelli north/Ughelli South federal constituency of Delta state, 38 bills and deputy chief whip, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha 35 bills, while the speaker Femi Gbajabiamila has 23 bills.

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Members whose bills could not go beyond the first reading included former speaker, Yakubu Dogara with 10 stagnated bills.

The Executive Director, Order Paper, Oke Epia, while speaking at the unveiling of the appraisal, said the document was a true reflection of the performance of the lawmakers in sponsorship of bill in the period under review.

Epia said“We have used data and data does not lie. For the past two years our analysis has never been faulted. None has been validly challenged”, he stated.

Monguno, in his remark at the event, said “Your work has made members to be on their toes and compete amongst themselves to sponsor bills and also to improve on the quality of bills that are being sponsored. You are complementing the role of the legislature. You are upping the ante of legislature”

On his part, the deputy minority leader, Toby Okechukwu said the Order Paper was setting agenda for the lawmakers and motivating them to do more. Nevertheless, Okechukwu implored the organization to fathom other other functions of the lawmaker, outside sponsorship of bill, in subsequent appraisal.