The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, said on Tuesday that the 9th National Assembly would re-work its legislative agenda to align with the realities of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
He said this at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, after meeting separately with Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari.
Fielding questions from State House Correspondents, he said the National Assembly would make legislations that would be in line with the COVID-19 situation.
“The National Assembly is all geared up already to make legislations and pass laws that will align with the situation we have found ourselves.
“Today, we announced on the floor of the House that we have set up an ad-hoc committee to begin to think a little bit with the 9th Legislative Agenda, which we all passed with fanfare at that time even without knowing that this is going to be visited on us.
“So, it is incumbent and proper on us to rework that legislative agenda in line with our current realities and that’s what we going to do.”
According to Gbajabiamila, the National Assembly is already looking beyond the COVID-19 situation and working out measures to tackle the challenges from the pandemic.
“We are not out of COVID yet, but I am already calling it post COVID because we have got to move on; economic issues, health issues that need to be addressed.
“Things are going to change; things are going to be different. I met with the vice president earlier on today and we both acknowledged that post COVID Nigeria is going to be significantly different from pre-Covid Nigeria.”
On his meeting with the new Chief of Staff to the President, he said it went “very well”, adding that they had known each other before now.
“We have known each other for a while, but that was not political. Now, we have got to know each other politically. We had a good discussion.”
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