Already, members of the ninth House, including Gbajabiamila, have been using ‘Rep.’ before their names, instead of the ‘Honourable’ that has been in use for ages.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has introduced an amendment bill seeking to legalise the change in the “address and designation of a member”.
If passed, the bill will see members of the House addressed as ‘Representatives’, no longer ‘Honourables’ or Hon for short.
The bill is titled ‘A Bill for an Act to Amend the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, 2017.’
Already, members of the ninth House, including Gbajabiamila, have been using ‘Rep.’ before their names, instead of the ‘Honourable’ that has been in use for ages.
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The bill seeks to insert new Sections 21 and 22 into the Legislative Houses (Powers And Privileges) Act, which read, “(21) A member of the Senate shall be designated and addressed as a Senator and shall be entitled to have before his name the word ‘Senator’ during his term in office and for life.
“(22) A member of the House of Representative shall be designated and addressed as a ‘Representative’ and shall be entitled to have before his name the word ‘Representative’ during his term in office and for life.”
The Speaker wrote in the explanatory note, “This bill seeks to define the designation and address before the name of a member of the National Assembly.”