Bill On FMC Gombe: What Is Fair Is Fair – Gbajabiamila Tells Senate

…Blocks Senator Goje’s duplicate FMC Bill

Speaker of the House of Representaives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila has declared that he would not accept for a member’s bill to be in the Senate just cooling off for months while a similar bill is brought to the floor of the House to be processed.

Gbajabiamila, who stated this while announcing a suspended action on a bill seeking to establish a Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Deba instead of Billiri in Gombe State, said; “what is fair is fair”.

The Speaker said that the House would take the bill which has already gone for first reading and will leave it in abeyance until that of Honourable Mela which has already been passed by the House is given concurrence

by the Senate.

Gbajabiamila pointedly said that the bill sent by the Senate should be held in abeyance until it (Senate) concurs on a Bill for an Act to establish Federal Medical Centre in Billiri sent to it six months ago.

The decision followed strong resistance by members from Gombe Southern part of the state who insisted that the House cannot consider the Senate’s request for concurrence on a duplicate bill while the version passed by the House has been left unattended to since September 2021.

The members led by Hon. Victor Mela Danzaria (Balanga/Billiri federal constituency) and Hon. Karu Simon Elisha (Kaltungo Shongom), who literally held the Chambers hostage for over 30 minutes at Wednesday’s plenary, insisted that the Senate was misled to passed the bill that domiciled the FMC in Deba instead of Billiri as earlier passed by the House.

Raising a point of Order to stop the Senate’s request for concurrence, Hon. Danzaria noted that a bill on the same subject matter was duly passed by the House and sent to the Senate for concurrence since September last year.

Danzaria stressed that deliberation on the controversial Senate’s request would amount to a breach of his privilege, adding that the already passed bill by the House went through first and second reading on the March 12, 2020 and May 6, 2021 respectively.

He further said; “The bill was subjected to public hearing where memorandum were presented to the House Committee on Health.

“On 8th July, 2021, it went through the third reading and final passage in the House of Representatives and on the 16th September, 2021, it was transmitted to the senate for concurrence,” he said.

Danzaria continued; “l have respect for the sponsors of the Senate bill, but he knows too well that the Federal Government cannot afford two Federal Medical Centres in Gombe state. What then was his motive for sponsoring a duplicate bill when he could have encouraged the Senate to concur on the already passed bill that has been before it for six months?”

The federal lawmakers had in October 2021 raised an alarm about a duplicate bill sponsored by Senator Danjuma Goje (Gombe Central) on the establishment of FMC at Deba whereas there was a similar bill sponsored by Hon Danzaria and passed by the House that domiciled the FMC in Billiri for the benefit of the people of Balanga, Kaltungo, Shongom, Billiri and Akko which also include the Christian minority.

The members expressed disappointment on Senator Goje, wondering why a former governor, former minister and a four-term senator who ought to be promoting justice, equity and fairness for all would sponsor a duplicate bill that would deny the people in the affected five local governments access to tertiary health care.

The lawmakers had described the Senate’s duplicate version as “divisive” and pointedly accused Senator Goje of plot to subvert the bill passed by the House for the establishment of a Federal Medical Centre in Billiri, Gombe State and therefore urged the Senate not to dissipate energy but to stop further deliberations on the duplicate bill.

Hon. Danzaria and his colleagues from Gombe south expressed strong condemnation over the Senate’ action, saying it was an injustice that must not be allowed to stand.

“A bill on the same subject matter has been duly passed, awaiting concurrence of the senate. Senator Goje knows too well that the federal government cannot afford two Federal Medical Centre in Gombe State. What then is his motive for sponsoring similar bill when he could have canvassed support for the already passed bill at the Senate,” Hon Danzaria asked.

Ruling on the matter, Speaker Gbajabiamila directed that the Senate’s bill should be held in abeyance pending the action of the Senate on a Bill for an Act to Establish Federal Medical Centre, Billiri, Gombe State and for other related matters.

Gbajabiamila said; “We have to observe the rule of first in time. It hasn’t even gone through first reading before it was sent there for concurrence.

“We have same situation with other bills and l have made these pronouncement on the floor a couple of times. If any bill comes from the Senate and it is in the House and it has been sitting down in this House, it would be difficult for me to accept for a member to bring the same bill on the floor of the House because it would be unfair on the Senate who sponsored that bill and sent it here for concurrence.

“In similar vein, l would not accept for a member’s bill to be in the Senate just cooling off for months and a similar bill is brought to the floor of the House and we processed that.

“So therefore, what is fair is fair. We will take this bill which has already gone for first reading and we will leave it in abeyance until Honourable Mela’s bill that has been sitting there for the past six months is processed in the Senate. I think that is the only fair thing to do,” Speaker Gbajabiamila ruled.