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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DEBATES
FOURTH ASSEMBLY
FIRST SESSION
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OFFICIAL REPORT

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA

Wednesday, 9th June, 1999
The House met at 10.05 a.m.

PRAYERS

(Mr. Speaker in the Chair)

VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS

Mr. Speaker: Hon. Members, you are all welcome back from the short recess. I hope you all had a good rest. I have examined the Votes and Proceedings of Thursday, 3rd June, 1999, and have approved same. I have also examined the Votes and Proceedings of 4th June, 1999 in respect of the Joint Session of the National Assembly and have approved same. I have equally examined the Votes and Proceedings for the House of Representatives of 4th June, 1999 and have approved same. All typographical errors and misspellings of names, if any, should please be referred to the Clerks-At-Table who will effect the necessary corrections to save the time of this honourable House.

OATHS
OATH OF ALLEGIANCE
AND
OATH OF MEMBERSHIP

Mr. Speaker: I call on Hon. Members who have not taken their Oaths of Allegiance and Membership to please indicate by raising up their hands so that they can be given the oath forms. (Some Members raised up their hands).
Let all those who have raised their hands come to the floor of the House and take their oaths. (Thereupon the following Members took and, subscribed the Oaths required by law.)

Hon. Al-Hassan Al-Mashy Al-Gaddas
Hon. Isa Hassan M.
Hon. Graham Ipigansi
Hon. P. I. Tom Abibo
Hon.. Stephen Adedapo Banjo
Hon. Sani Udu
Hon. Ezeani Nnamdi ThankGod
Hon. Barminas Ali Yilkas
Hon. Bama Bwari Abubakar
Hon. Isa Chungmon Song
Hon. M.A. Yusuf Bunkura
Hon. Babangida Umaru
Hon. Dantani Sunsuwa
Hon. Kuriya Tafarki Auta
Hon. Khanin Tauru Titus
Hon. Dahiru Bako Gassol

Announcements

Submission of Assets Declaration Forms

Mr. Speaker: I will like to call on the following hon. Members to please submit their Assets Declaration Forms to the Clerk of the House.

Hon. Babatunde Oduyoye
Hon. Adedeji Adesida
Hon. Mohammed Danshida; and
Hon. Adewale Layande.
Other Hon. Members who have not submitted their Assets Declaration Forms should endeavour to do so immediately.

Rules Review Committee

The House shall constitute a Rules Review Committee. It will be an Ad-hoc Committee to review the Rules of this House. The Membership shall be twenty (20) in all. The Parties shall be represented in accordance with their strength in the House. Accordingly, PDP will have 12 members while APP and AD will have four (4) members each. The leaders of the Parties should meet the Speaker after this sitting to submit their nominees.

Committee of Selection

This House shall also constitute a Committee of Selection and it shall be as follows:
Mr. Speaker will be the Chairman of the Committee while the Deputy Speaker will be the Deputy Chairman. Under PDP, the Majority leader, the Deputy Majority Leader, the Chief Whip and the Deputy Chief Whip of the Party plus eight other nominees shall be Members. APP will have the Party Leader, the Party Whip and two other nominees as members. AD will also have the Party Leader, the Party Whip plus two other members. This will make up the 12:4:4: ratio.

Working Tour of APO Legislative Village

The speaker will undertake a working tour of the Apo Legislative Village at the end of today's sitting. I invite Members who are interested to joint the Speaker to visit where we are going to stay. Transport will be made available.

Party Leaders of AD in the House

I am in possession of the nominations from Alliance for Democracy (AD) which I will read as follows: Honourable Oladipo Olaitan is the Party Leader of AD for this Honourable House. (Applause).
Hon. (Mrs) Etteh is the Party Whip for AD in this honourable House. At this juncture, I will call on the other parties, the PDP and the APP, to please submit the list of their leaders as soon as possible so that we can actively start the business of the people of this country.

Hon. Enwereuzor Eze (Aba North/Aba South): Mr. Speaker, I am currently the APP Leader in the House. Sir, you made a statement that the representations of the Parties are in the proportion of membership in the House. I am very surprised that APP has four members and AD also has four. Can you recall that APP has 94 members while AD has 67? I do not see how that meets the proportional ratio that you are talking about. I would wish this is corrected so that proper reflection is made whereby APP, given their number, will have more representatives. Again, our elections have been conducted and I am forwarding a letter to you this afternoon to give you a list of our members who will lead us in this House.
Thank you.

Hon. (Engr.) Bala Kaoje (Bagudo/Suro): Mr. Speaker, the reason why I stand here is to give a response to what Hon. Member for Aba North/Aba South (Hon. Enwereuzor Eze) has said when he asked for more membership of the APP as against the membership given to AD by the Speaker. I think the four membership given to AD and APP respectively is quite all right since the APP membership in the House does not double that of AD. If it has been double, they could have been justified to ask for more. I think the number given is quite all right.

Meeting of PDP Members from South East

Mr. Speaker: There will be an urgent meeting of all PDP South-East members immediately after the end of the morning session in the Committee Room at the rear of the House of Representatives. This is signed by Nnanyereugo Chukwuemeka Chikelu.

Hon. Mohammed Umara Kumalia (Maiduguri Metropolitan): Mr. Speaker, Sir, Hon. Members, I just want to react to the comments made by Hon. Bala Kaoje representing Bagudo/Suro. If Hon. Members were listening carefully to what the Speaker had said that representations of the Parties in these Committees are going to be done. in accordance with their numerical strength, the catchword there is numerical strength. Therefore, the question of whether APP doubles the number of AD does not arise at all. What I expect the Speaker to do in the circumstance is to take the ratio of all the members of the different Parties and allocate the membership of these Members into these various Committees in accordance with this ratio and not the standard that is being proposed by my honourable Colleague.
Thank you.

Mr. Speaker: I will want to meet with the following Members during the break. The are: Hon. (Barrister) Gabriel Dumi(Okpe/Uvwie/Sapele), Hon. (Barrister) J. H. O. Agoda (Ethiope East/Ethiope West), Hon. E. . Agbeotu (Burutu), Hon. (Barrister) Temi Harriman (Warri North/ Warri South/Warri South-West) and Hon. Emmanuel Aguariavwodo (Ughelli North/Ughelli South/Udu).

Hon. (Barrister Tony Anyanwu(Ahiazu/Ezinihite): Mr. Speaker, Sir, when you made the opening remarks with respect to the positions in the House, I do recall that you mentioned the position of the Deputy Majority Leader and you did give the impression that the Parties, particularly the PDP, is expected to forward their nominations today. I would like to remark that based on the current status of the Rules that we have today, (please I stand to be corrected), that office does not exist as at now. So, much as I would not like to direct you, it appears that we are putting the cart before the horse. Perhaps, it will make more pragmatic sense to adopt the rules first and keep that position in abeyance until it is created so that nobody sees us as being hasty in the way we are moving the affairs of the House.
Thank you, very much.

Guided Inspection of NASS Complex.

Hon. Zakara A. Malherbe (Buruku): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I think that the basic things should be done first. With reference to your remark that those who so wish could follow you to inspect the Apo Legislative Quarters, I am not too sure if all of us here know this complex enough. For instance, if we have to go into Committee work, nobody has taken the trouble to take us round and I am sure, occasion will arise when one or two members may receive visitors and will want to show them this magnificent structure. Up till now, this complex is still very strange to us. May I, therefore, plead that somebody who is supposed to be responsible for that should take the trouble to do so. In the absence of that, let us have some sort of map which will indicate clearly what facilities exist here.
Secondly, one is not sure the sort of facilities that can be extended to the hon. Members in terms of their work. Have we got some computer room somewhere meant for this honourable House? Have we got some typing pool somewhere meant for this House? We know, for instance, some of the Principal officers and that is the Clerk of this House and his Deputy. An occasion may arise that one of us in their absence, would want to make reference to any of the other Senior staff, I do not think I am asking for too much for the Clerk of this honourable House to arrange so that we can get to know some of these Senior staff.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker: I will direct the Clerk to arrange a familiarization tour for Members and to also make available these basic amenities which will assist us in executing our Constitutional obligations.

Hon. (Dr.) Ahmed I. Lawan (Bade/Jakusko): Mr. Speaker, Sir, you mentioned that the Majority Leader and the Deputy Majority Leader will be in a certain Committee. But for the other parties, that is APP and AD, you only mentioned their leaders. Could I please ask: would we in APP and AD not have our Deputy Leaders as members of the Committee? If PDP should have Deputy Leader on such a Committee, I think it is appropriate and pertinent that we also are represented by our Deputy Leaders as well.
Thank you, very much.

Mr. Speaker: The information we got from Alliance for Democracy (AD) presenting their party Leaders to this honourable House did not include the positions of Deputy Leader and Deputy Whip. It is in the light of that that I decided to exclude them. In fact, this is purely a party affair.

Hon. Altine Oga Idikwu (Oju/Obi): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have a point of order.

Several Hon. Members: What order?

Hon. Oga Idikwu: Mr. Speaker, Sir, if you look at the Order Paper, the item we are now on is Announcement. I want to find out from the Speaker if he has finished his announcement before we go into other items?

Meeting of PDP Members from North-Central Zone.

Mr. Speaker: There will be a meeting of PDP Members from the North Central Zone immediately after the morning session in this Hall.

Hon. Oladipo Olaitan (Alimosho): Mr. Speaker, Sir, we need to correct this mis-representation. The AD as a Party sent two names to Mr. Speaker on the instructions of the Clerk to the National Assembly, and that, I may say, is in compliance with the Rules of this House. The Clerk to the National Assembly wrote to our Party to submit one name for the Party Leader and one name for the Party Whip in compliance with the Rules. It is not that we have deliberately kicked ourselves from the foot. The Clerk to the National Assembly wrote to us in compliance with the Rules and we replied in compliance with the Rules, and I think we should make that clear.
Thank you, very much.

Hon. (Dr) Jerry Igbokwe: (Idemili North/South): Mr. Speaker, Sir, with all due respect, I want to allign myself with the comment made by bon. colleague from Ahiazu/Ezinhite (Barrister Tony Anyanwu) and also in line with an bon. colleague from Alimosho (Hon. Olaitan Oladipo) on the issue of mis-representation. What we have in our hands is what is called Draft Rules of the House. It is my opinion that the bon. Speaker should constitute an ad-hoc Committee that should review these Rules, make a presentation to the House and if the House adopts it, it becomes the Rules of the House. If that is done, the issue of Deputy Whip or Deputy Chief Whip which is not reflected here as regards to the other Parties would have been properly taken care of.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker: We have already mentioned the membership of that Committee and the Committee will be constituted today. After that, they will start work as soon as possible.

Raising of Point of Order

Hon. (Barrister) C. O. Durn (Aguata): Mr. Speaker, Sir, bon. Members, I want to make a very simple observation, though important. I want to say that the Speaker of this House is the holder df the Order of this House. so, when the Speaker is speaking, under no circumstance must a Member raise a Point of Order against the Speaker. That is the position, Sir, and that is the Law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. (Applause) So, everybody should please take note.
Secondly, Mr. Speaker, at the end of our sitting on Friday, the 4th of June, 1999, this House adjourned till Wednesday, 9th June, 1999 and not that the House adjourned sine die.

Meeting of Alliance for Democracy

Mr. Speaker: There shall be a meeting of all bon. Members of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) today immediately after the morning session in the Lobby outside the Chamber. This was signed by the AD Leader.

Hon. Sule Yari (Wurno/Raba): May I crave the indulgence of this honourable House to take us back to the issue of proportional representation in the Committee of Selection as announced by the Speaker. I still want to re-echo the sentiments of my Party, the All Peoples Party (APP), on the issue of proportional representation. We are talking of democracy and democracy is a game of number. If there is any issue to be voted for in this honourable House, if am issue is to win by one single Member, that issue should be considered as important and-I think the issue of 94 Members against 67 should be addressed.
I want to crave the indulgence of this House to take note of this, please.
Thank you, very much. (Applause).

Mr. Speaker: I want to put this House to rest as far as representation is concerned. As soon as we get the list of the leadership from APP, we will all sit down together and sort this out. This is a very simple problem.

Hon. Musa Elayo (Awe/Doma): I am in support of the attention of the House that was drawn to the issue of membership of Select Committee by the Hon. Member for Ahiazu/Ezinihitte (Hon. Tony Anyanwu). I would want the Speaker to correct our records by saying that PDP should have its Speaker, the Deputy Speaker and any other Members as Members of the Select Committee since we do mot have the position of Deputy Majority Leader or Deputy Chief Whip in the Rules for purposes of the record of the House.
Thank you, very much.

Hon. Ita Enang (Itu/Ibiono Ibom): Point of Order, Mr. Speaker. The order I am drawing this House to is firstly that there is a Standing Order for this House to use before it cam make its own Standing Orders and we are bound by that Standing Orders until we make our own Standing Orders and that we cannot constitute a Select Committee without making reference to that Standing Orders and we cannot state any office that is available without making reference to that Standing Orders.
Mr. Speaker, I want to refer you to Section 311 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic which is operating and guiding us, Sir. It makes provision for Standing Orders and it provides in Section 311:

1. That the provision of this Section shall have
     effect until the National Assembly or the
     House of Assembly exercises the powers
     conferred upon it by Section 60 or 101 of this
     Constitute as appropriate.

2. The Standing Orders of the Senate established
     under the former Constitution shall apply in
     relation to proceedings in the Senate established
     under this Constitution.

3. The Standing Orders of the House of
     Representatives established under the former
     Constitution shall apply in relation to the
     proceedings in the House of Representatives
     established under this Constitution.

Then, Sub-section (6) defined the former
Constitution to be:

                                                   Under this Section, the former Constitution
                                                   refers to the Constitution of the Federal
                                                   Republic of Nigeria, 1979.

So, Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am submitting that the Standing Orders of this House to be used mow does mot need any other thing. It is the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives, 1979 and the Draft Standing Orders we have made by the Clerk cannot apply and the National Assembly House of Representatives Standing Orders of 1992 cannot apply and unless and until we make our rules, the offices that are specified under the Standing Orders of this House in 1979, that is, Majority Leader, Minority Leader and other offices will have to apply.

Mr. Speaker: I think you have made your point. Thank you, very much. What I want to explain actually is that there are Standing Rules approved for 1993 and this was am issue which we have already started addressing and discussing. The 1992 Standing Rules was not adopted. The copy we are holding now which we have, that of the Draft in which the National Assembly provided for us with which to work on and amend is the Committee that we have just constituted now.
As for the powers or the basis for constituting Select Committees, the House under the 1993 Standing Rules has that power and I believe this honourable House is now guided by that Rules of 1993 pending our adoption of the amended version. (Applause).

Sitting Arrangement in the House

Hon. Rauf Kolawole Shitu (Offa/Ifelodun/Oyun): Mr Speaker, Sir, I just have an observation to make. In our sitting arrangement in the House here, one would have thought that by now, the Clerk would have ensured that the seats are numbered in an alphabetical order. I think this is very important. This will enable us not to concentrate on Party basis around particular seats.

Mr. Speaker: The Clerk of the House of Representatives should take note of that please.

Hon. Suswan Gabriel (Katsina Ala/Logu/Ukum): Mr. Speaker, you have just mentioned the 1993 Rules and what we have is 1992. Is Mr. Speaker telling us that this 1992 Rules that we have is going to be replaced by the 1993 Rules? I believe that most Members would want to be clarified on that. Are we now going to be using the 1993 Rules or the 1992 Rules which we have already been given? Mr. Speaker, please can you clarify us on that.

Mr. Speaker: This House will be guided by the Standing Rules of 1993 until such a time that the Committee that we have constituted verify and amend our own Draft copy and adopt same. I will at this juncture direct the Clerk of this House to please make available the copies of this 1993 Draft Standing Rules to every Member for their own study.
Thank you. (Applause).

Hon. Jerry Sonny Ugokwe (Idemili North/South): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am aware that the Rules of 1993 that you spoke about that will be distributed to us specifically mentioned that the Speaker of the House will allocate seats to Members of this House. It does not state that the Members of the House will sit in alphabetical order.

Mr Speaker: The issue of the sitting arrangement will be sorted out very soon. I would direct the Clerk to do that.

ORDER OF THR DAY

Mr. Speaker: At this point in time, I would want us to proceed to the Order of the Day which is the debate on the address of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
If anybody wants to call my attention, I think, other should put off their microphones except the Member speaking. I get confused. If you leave the microphone, I do not know where the voice is coming from. Thank you.

Hon. Kanayo Edeb (Nkanu East/Nkanu West): The Order Paper for today is on the speech of the President. and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I believe that we should have copies of the official address so that we can be able to discuss it.
Mr. Speaker: The address has been distributed. Is there any Member that does not have the address? The address of the President and Commander-inChief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is attached to the Votes and Proceedings of the Joint Sitting of the 4th of June.

Hon. Dr. E. O. Udoh (Oron/ Mbom/ Okobo/ Udunguko/ Urue/Offonguruko): Mr. Speaker, Hon. Members of this distinguished Houses, we have just got the President and Commander-in-Chief's address today. Even though we heard it verbally on Friday, last week, I think it will be morally pertinent and imperative that this honourable House is given at least one or two days to go back home, read this speech properly, digest it before we can start serious debate on this. This very speech by Mr. President borders on the foundation of the Fourth Republic. The reason being that it has so much on Corruption and if we are to debate on the issue of corruption properly, we need to digest the address properly. Above all, Mr. Speaker, I will also wish to crave the indulgence of this honourable House that we should see the list of the Ministerial appointments before we can adequately debate the President's speech.
Thank You, very much.

Hon. Ismaila Mohammed (Dukku/Nafada): Mr. Speaker, Sir, honourable Members, I am pointing out Order 15 in order to rectify our daily proceedings because before we proceed to debate the speech of the President, we have to move a Motionand adopt the Votes and Proceedings of friday, 4th June, 1999. It is not in order now to start debating the speech of the President.

Mr. Speaker: I think you came late. We have passed that issue, as far as the Votes and Proceedings of our previous sitting is concerned. At this juncture, I want the honourable Members to please be well informed. We have discussed, we have passed, we have adopted the Vote and Proceedings and I have requested all Members that if they have problems of mis-spelling of names, they should please liaise with the Clerk so that they can sort out the problems. The issue of us adopting the Votes and Proceedings of the Joint Sitting of the National Assembly cannot be possible because we are just one arm of the Assembly. When next we have a Joint Sitting; at that point in time, we will adopt the Votes and Proceedings of the Joint Sitting.
Thank You, very much. (Applause)
I would also comment on what my honourable friend has said. I wish to say that this honourable House actually has been allocated ten legislative days for the debate on the speech of the President and Commander-in-Chief. Today is just the beginning and I thought that every Member should be given a minute or two to comment on the speech before we can go home and study it. I just thought that we can say a word or two by all Members.

Hon. Abdulkadir S. Usman (Zaria): I want to say that up till now, we do not have a Rule because we said that the Rule we are adopting now is just to guide us until when we amend the 1993 Rule. I think the best thing for you to do is to advise the Deputy Clerk to give us the 1993 Rules so that it will guide us in our day-to-day proceedings.
Thank You.

Mr. Speaker: The Clerk of the House has just informed me that 1993 Rules are in production and he assured me that by Friday, copies will be made available to all Members. I want us to please understand the situation. Let us wait and see till Friday.
Thank you very much.

Hon. Dubem Onyia (Enugu North/South): Mr. Speaker, I want to appeal to my fellow colleagues that although we cannot adopt the proceedings of the Joint Sitting. until we have another Joint Sitting, and we can move a Motion today accepting the speech of Mr. President in the House of Representatives and come back next time to discuss it. Until we accept it, as the property of House of Representatives, we cannot discuss it. I think that what we do today, is to move a Motion that we accept the speech of Mr. President. Once. we accepted the speech of Mr. President, we can go back, study it and come back and discuss it. I think that is the appropriate thing to do. I want to suggest, Mr. Speaker, that before we come back for the debate, maybe tomorrow or next, after we have adopted Mr. President's speech, that the Clerk of the House of Representatives or His Deputy will at that particular point make the 1993 Rules available.
Now when somebody says, Point of Order, we say Order what? Are you going to quote the 1992 Order or 1993 Order? Until we have this document with us, we cannot quote which Order or give information or any kind. So, Mr. Speaker, I wish first of all that we adopt Mr. President's speech, then we can go back and discuss it.
Thank you, very much.

Hon. Barrister Tony Anyanwu ( Ahiazu /Ezinhite): Mr. Speaker Sir, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, honourable Member, with the greatest respect, in view of the circumstances and considering the way and progressiveness of the direction of the way we are debating today, I Stand to move that the speech of the President, Commander -in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, General Olusegun Obasanjo, be accepted by this Honourable House for discussion.

Hon. Barrister Ita Enang (Itu/ Ibiono lbom): Mr. Speaker Sir, I beg to second.

Hon.Abdullahi Matori (Bauchi): Mr. Speaker Sir, I would like a clarification. Are we accepting or receiving the speech because when you are talking of accepting it, I find it difficult to understand what we are accepting. We are receiving formally the speech. So, we should adopt the motion receiving the speech formally in the House so that we can debate it later on.

Mr. Speaker: I think this honourable House is accepting the speech. The President and Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, came to this Honourable House and addressed us, he did not send somebody and as such, I think this honourable House is accepting the speech. Thank you.

Hon. Oladipo Olaitan (Alimosho): I think there is a fundamental error here. The motion talks of accepting the Presidential speech. I beg to modify the motion to be, Accepting the presidential speech for debate. It is here already and we were here when the speech was made, the question of now saying we are accepting it is tautologious. we can now say: Accept it for debate
Thank you, very much, Mr. Speaker.

Hon. Barrister Tony Anyanwu: Mr. Speaker Sir, Let me clarify my motion because I am the one who proposed it.
With the greatest respect to this House again, I stand to clarify and to emphasise the confines of my motion and for the avoidance of doubt, my motion was that the President's speech be accepted for debate. I did not think that there is any ambiguity with respect to it.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, thank you honourable Members.

Mr. Speaker: What I would do is to ask the House if we should give honourable Members a minute each to make some remarks on the speech or do we postpone the debate until tomorrow or to another day?

Question put and agreed to

Resolved: That debate on Mr. President's speech be postponed till tomorrow, 10th June, 1999.

Hon. Mudashiru Olashekoni (Irepo /Oorelope/ Olorunsogo): Mr. Speaker Sir, Honourable Members of this august House, the role of the speaker is that, after decisions have been taken he should bang the hammer on the table indicating that the decision has been endorsed by the speaker and that the House has agreed on it. We have endorsed many decisions, yet we did not hear the bang. So, I am calling on the staff of the National Assembly to please guide the speaker aright.

Mr Speaker: Thank you.
So, I now put the question on the motion proposed by Hon. Tony Anyanwu which was duly seconded that this House do accept for debate the speech of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved: That the house do adopt for debate the speech of the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. (Applause)

Hon.(Mrs) Omolola Abiola-Edewor (Apapa): I would like to remind this House that some of ms still do not have a copy of that speech. If we are going to deliberate on it, we should all get a copy before the end of the day.
Thank you.

Mr. Speaker: I want to clarify the issue of the speech. The Speech attached to the Votes and Proceedings of the Joint Session of the National Assembly.

Hon. Barrister Ibrahim Zailani (Toro): Mr. Speaker, Sir, it appears that your eyes are always focused on the right-hand side of this House. It would be unfair on this side that you are not looking at the left-hand side to be able to see our raised hands. We have contributions to make but you do not look towards our direction.
Please, do look round the House while pointing at those to speak.

Mr. Speaker: Your observation is noted, please.

Need for Decorum in the House

Hon. Ebuta Amba Tangba (Obubra Etung): Mr. Speaker, Sir, my distinguished colleagues, you would observe that this Honourable House is not helping Mr. Speaker. Everybody is supposed to signify his or her intention to speak by the raising of his or her hand and Mr. Speaker shall then call on you to address the House. But, it does appear that everybody simply stands up and shout Mr. Speaker, Sir, and then proceed to address the House without permission from Mr. Speaker.
My distinguished colleagues, I wish to appeal to you all that you should only raise your hands and you shall be called by Mr. Speaker to address the House so that there can be decorum.
Thank you. (Applause).

ADJOURNMENT

Mr. Speaker: At this juncture, since the debate on the Address by Mr. President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has been postponed, I would like to call on the Deputy Speaker to move a motion that this House stand adjourned till 10.00 a.m. tomorrow, 10th June, 1999.

The Deputy Speaker: I wish to move the motion that this Mouse do adjourn till 10.110 a.m. tomorrow, 10th June, 1999.

Hon. Oladipo K. Olaitan (Alimosho): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I wish to second the motion but in doing so, we did pass a note for messages to ask all AD Members to wait outside the chamber immediately after this session.
Thank you.

Question Proposed.

National Union of Teachers (NUT) Prolonged Strike

Mr. Speaker: I would like to call on Hon. Dr. Babatunde Musibau Olokun to speak.

Hon. Dr. Babatunde Musibau Olokun (Ikene / Remo North Sagamu): Mr. Speaker, most respected honourable Members of the House of Representatives, I am pleased to say that this honourable House should debate a definite matter of urgent public importance, namely, the National Union of Teachers' (NUT) prolonged strike that is now affecting the education of Nigerians' primary and secondary school students.
Thank you.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved: That the House do stand adjourned tit tomorrow, 10th June, 1999 at 10.00 a.m.

The House adjourned accordingly at 11.26 a.m.