POLITICS
NASS Promises Speedy Response to Petitions, Public Complaints
The House Committee on Public Petitions has assured Nigerians of better days on its plan to respond speedily to public complaints.
Chairman, Committee on Public Petitions, Mike Etaba, said this at a Strategy and Capacity Building retreat in Abuja
The retreat was organised by Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), with support from European Union Support for Democratic Governance in Nigeria Programme Phase II.
Etaba commended PLAC for the initiative, adding that the committee would do justice to Nigerians and make them understand how to resolve their complaints through the House of Representatives public petitions.
“If you have any issue in respect of any kind of what you might be going through, what you need to do is to put up a petition to the house via the member representing you or submit to the speakers office or my office.
“We will transmit it to the House to take it to the floor and now you don’t need money to fund your petition.”
Etaba said tha House Committee on Public Petitions was fully funded by the House of Representatives and the speaker was also working so hard to make sure that Nigerians got justice.
“The committee is the last hope for the common man because you don’t need to go to the committee with a dime; if you need a lawyer that will stand for you, we have pro bono lawyers.
” If you don’t have confidence in yourself, we will give you lawyers that will stand for you and defend your petition.
” So Nigerians don’t need to be intimidated by any kind, you don’t need to go to the route of the court that will take you 10 to five years to resolve your matter.
“Come to the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions and get your matters resolved amicably without bias of any kind.”
Etaba said as part of the committee, the members had assumed a quasi judicial position aimed at carrying out investigations and dispute resolutions, hence ministers in the temple of justice.
He said that in recent times, the harsh economic situations, corruption, unemployment, unfair termination of employment and perceived injustice among others, had forced Nigerians to resort to self-help because of slow pace of justice administration.
“These are some of the problems our committee, using the quasi-judicial role and Public Complaints Commission, were created to address.
“Whether we have been performing these roles is a topic for another day. It is believed that this retreat will further equip us with strategies on how to do better as parliamentarians and ensure good governance,” he said
Executive Director PLAC, Clement Nwankwo, said the centre supported the Committee on Public Petitions to build it’s capacity to effectively deliver on the mandates.
Nwankwo said that the retreat did not just afford them the opportunity to share with the public, but also to work out a plan on how citizens with complaints, would be addressed.
“The retreat is to build the capacity of the committee to engage the public, take petitions from the public, and address them in terms of providing solutions and answers to their complaints.
” On a regular basis, citizens have complaints; they cannot afford the cost of litigation in the courts, and the public petitions committees of the National Assembly, and the states have not been really open.
“We need to get the Public Petitions Committees of the National Assembly to take in citizens complaints and provide solutions to bridge their challenges in finding resources to go to court. ”
Nwankwo said that the retreat would help the committee to plan on how to engage with citizens, how to institute the process of receiving public complaints from the public and be able to provide solutions.
He said that this was because once citizens were unable to find the resources to go to court, then either they suffered in silence or they resorted to extra legal means to find those solutions .
He said that the public petitions committees were, therefore, the bridge; so citizens should take advantage of their powers to find solutions to their problems. (NAN)
By David Torough, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu has signed the Appropriation (Amendment) (No. 4) Bill, 2025, extending the implementation period of the 2025 budget from September 30, 2026, to December 31, 2026.
The amendment was passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, before being transmitted to the President for assent.
According to a statement issued on Wednesday by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, the extension will give Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) additional time to complete ongoing capital projects.
The statement said the move would ensure that funds already appropriated are fully utilised without disrupting critical government programmes.
“The extension gives Ministries, Departments and Agencies more time to complete ongoing capital projects,” the statement said.
“It ensures that funds already appropriated are fully put to work for Nigerians, without disrupting critical programmes.”
Tinubu also commended the leadership and members of the National Assembly for what the statement described as the prompt consideration of the amendment.
The president said the development demonstrated continued cooperation between the Executive and Legislative arms of government in the interest of the country.
The amendment therefore allows the Federal Government to continue implementing the 2025 budget until December 31, 2026, instead of the earlier September 30 deadline.
President Bola Tinubu has submitted the 2026 Statutory Budget Proposal of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to the House of Representatives for consideration and passage.
This is contained in a letter dated Aug.
20, 2026, addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Abbas Tajudeen and read by the Deputy Speaker, Rep. Benjamin Kalu at plenary on Tuesday in Abuja.In the letter, Tinubu said that the budget was prepared by the Minister of Niger Delta Development in line with the provisions of Section 121 of the 1999 Constitution.
According to him, the proposal was based on the NDDC’s revenue and expenditure forecasts and it aligned with the fiscal and developmental policies of the Federal Government and the Renewed Hope Agenda.
He said that the proposal also took into consideration the 2024–2026 Economic Recovery Growth Plan as well as key assumptions of the 2026 Appropriation Act of the Federal Government.
The President said the NDDC had prioritised programmes aimed at improving youth empowerment, energy and power supply, education, industrial and enterprise development, health and security.
He also listed increased agricultural productivity among the commission’s priorities, saying the interventions were intended to lift a significant number of citizens out of poverty.
Tinubu urged the House to give the proposal consideration and ensure its timely passage.
“I look forward to the timely passage of the 2026 Statutory Budget Proposal of the NDDC by the House of Representatives,” he said. (NAN)
By David Torough, Abuja
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. George Akume, has charged Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to translate the findings of the 2026 Transparency and Integrity Index (TII) into concrete improvements in their operations in order to strengthen accountability and public trust.
He gave the charge while delivering the keynote address at the presentation of the 2026 Transparency and Integrity Index held at the Auditorium of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Abuja.
The SGF said the administration of President Bola Tinubu, remains committed to open, accountable and responsible governance, stressing that public institutions must ensure that their policies, programmes and actions are transparent, visible and understandable to Nigerians.
According to him, the Index has become a vital instrument for assessing accountability, openness and ethical standards across government institutions, while providing MDAs with clear benchmarks to identify areas of strength and gaps requiring improvement.
He urged heads of MDAs to integrate the findings and indicators of the Index into strategic planning, performance management, budget priorities, procurement processes, staff training and digital disclosure rather than allow the report to become another document left unused.
“The report should not sit on the shelf and should inform management decisions, budget priorities, procurement processes, staff training, digital disclosure, and how you communicate with the public,” he said.
Akume emphasised that transparency should be viewed as an institutional asset rather than an administrative burden, noting that integrity must be embedded in the procedures and culture of public institutions through clear policies, proper record-keeping, effective oversight, ethical leadership and consequences for wrongdoing.
He further tasked MDAs to take advantage of technology by ensuring that their websites and data portals provide accurate, timely and user-friendly information, including current budget, contract and service information, to enable citizens to effectively engage government and track the utilisation of public resources.
The SGF explained that the 2026 TII assesses public institutions in five critical areas comprising fiscal transparency, open procurement and contracting, human resources and inclusion, control of corruption and citizens’ engagement, adding that the initiative complements existing public service reforms, anti-corruption measures and Nigeria’s Open Government Partnership commitments.
He noted that the ultimate objective of transparency and integrity should go beyond institutional rankings to building public institutions that Nigerians can understand, engage with and hold accountable, while safeguarding public resources and improving service delivery.
“The Federal Government remains fully committed to this goal. We will continue building institutions that are transparent, accountable, professional and responsive to the needs of the people,” the SGF said.
Akume commended the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) and the Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity (CeFTPI) for sustaining the initiative, while calling for stronger collaboration among government, civil society, professional bodies, development partners and the media in strengthening transparency and bringing corruption to its knees.
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