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Tag: NASS

  • NASS Leadership directs Police, SSS to secure complex for plenary

    …as strike enters day two

     

    The leadership of the National Assembly ( NASS ) has said the Nigeria Police and the Department of State Services (DSS) should be held responsible if President Buhari is not allowed to present the 2019 Appropriation Budget schelded for Wednesday due to the four-day industrial action by the National Assembly workers.

    The workers have however vowed to continue with the warning strike as the main gate to the National Assembly remained partially locked.

    Though water and power supplies have been restored, workers are having difficulty gaining access to the complex.

    Most motorists were observed to be using the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) gate to access the complex.

    But DSS operatives at the SGF gate have however refused to allow anyone with National Assembly identity card through their gate.

    In a statement on Monday night, after a meeting with the management of the National Assembly led by the Clerk, Muhammadu Sani-Omolori, Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker Yakubu Dogara said the management has made sufficient efforts to address rue grievance of the striking workers.

    The meeting, conveyed at the instance of Saraki and Dogara was to assess the situation and efforts made so far by the management to address the grievances of the striking staff.

    The political leadership, as such, directed the security agencies to secure the National Assembly for legislators to carry out their duties from this morning.

    Read Also: Senate approves names of nominees for NASS commission

    The statement signed by Omolori reads, “The leadership of the National Assembly called the meeting because they know that almost all the issues raised by the striking workers were being addressed by the management.

    “And after listening to the CNA, it was unanimously agreed that the management had made sufficient plans and efforts to address all the grievances of the workers and ensure their happiness.

    “We were sure that the issues raised by the workers have been well attended to and that it is necessary for the business of the National Assembly to continue without any disturbance.

    “Both chambers must hold their normal plenary tomorrow morning to prepare the ground for the visit of President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, December 19, 2018 to present the budget proposal to the joint sitting of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

    “We have therefore mandated the security agencies to perform their duty of maintaining law and order in the National Assembly Complex and its surrounding.

    “They must enforce the laws which allow the striking workers to down tools if they choose to and also the ones which restrain them from disturbing those who choose to work or stop parliamentarians from entering the chambers or their offices to do the work for which they were elected.

    “Senators and members of the House of Representatives, their aides, other workers and people who have legitimate business within the National Assembly Complex are therefore advised to come in as they will be free to operate without any hinderance and molestation.

    “If President Buhari is unable to present the budget proposal on Wednesday as scheduled Nigerians should hold the security agencies responsible for failing in the performance of their duties.”

  • NASS: Workers cut off water, power supply

    …As banks, telcos, others close shop

    All activities at the National Assembly ( NASS ) have been paralysed as power supply to the complex has been cut off by the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN).

    However supply to the Account Section of the Annex was spared with the workers allowed to do their work of preparing the next salary for the workers.

    Water supply to the complex was also stopped.

    Read Also: Workers shut down National Assembly

    At about 10am, the union leaders forced workers on duty at the Engineering Department to cut off power supply to the complex.

    Not quite 30 minutes later, all the banks, telecommucation offices, resturants, other supporting staff, including the Radio Nigeria studio within the complex closed down and their workers departed and seen treking the long way back to the car park wearing long faces.

    Meanwhile, a number of members that sneaked into White were asked to leave in their own interest.

  • Our Girls; Expressway disaster – Vote out this NASS

    Our Chibok girls were kidnapped on April 15, 2014. Inexplicably our Dapchi girl, 15, Leah Sharibu is not released.

    The president should explain to the country why he has not accent to the new Electoral Act. Will any new law be effective in this coming election? We have expended a lot of hot air on this and the Petroleum Industry Bill. We need closure.

    NASS staff strike, ke? It demonstrates clearly the problem with Nigeria. If those at the heart of an indisputably greedy National Assembly, (NASS) could not be trusted to ensure that their own staff get paid as and when due by whoever should have paid them regularly. I wish that the people would follow suit and ‘strike’ against all members of NASS in the coming election in 2019 and ensure that every single one of the current crop of NASS members is removed and replaced by non-past governors. The Senate should not be converted into an ‘immunity from prosecution’ retirement home for tired governors and serial political office holders. I and tens of thousands of others have just suffered a total of eight hours travelling to and from Lagos, a four-hour maximum travel in normal times. This trauma was inflicted on me and millions of fellow travellers this last Saturday and Sunday, only because, NASS when given the opportunity to serve the country in an already laid out manner, deliberately held meetings and budget review sessions in which someone actually decided to suggest NASS take steps to deny adequate funding already put in the last 2018 budget for the sole purpose of finishing the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

    For the traveller daily ensnarled in the construction constricted areas, we can blame Julius Berger or even RCC for not taking note of the volume of traffic when restricting access. But the buck stops at the desk of the NASS for the contractor delays and failure to provide adequately for the easy passage of the tens of thousands of vehicles daily.  All this work would have been finished last year or latest mid-2018 if NASS had shown the slightest sense of responsible behaviour when it was asked to fund the remaining part of the road in the 2018 budget. NASS’ complete disregard for the travelling public along that heavily travelled artery should be rewarded by the citizens’ complete disregard for NASS members seeking public office. The NASS action in the matter of delaying and denying expressway funding should be recalled in full detail and acted upon by any and everyone who has suffered or knows someone who has suffered on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway during the last year, numbering in their millions. I repeat, no NASS member deserves a return vote to a seat in the red or green chamber judging from their lack of support for the completion of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

    Nineteen drowned in boat mishap Chewuru in Kwara. Sorrow is deep but Nigerians must get used to the fact that lifejackets are cheap. We have lost too many to drowning across Africa this year.

    There is nothing new in the ‘New’ Public Buildings Maintenance Policy. I am a witness that routine maintenance according to a well-oiled step by step plan and diary was done routinely on government residences in the colonial times when a seven year cycle of painting and general upgrade maintenance was performed on government quarters and Public Works Department (PWD) was available for other maintenance work during the intervening period. Short term greed and perhaps contractor collusion killed it once the colonialists left. Well, I suppose we should be grateful it is back some 40 years after it was killed by high ministry officials but it should never have been changed in the first place.  I wonder where the diary of the seven year cycle of maintenance used in those days is today. It would make interesting reading and a guideline of how things were done correctly in the pre-computer days.

    So during the darkest days of the Abacha Error, not era, when I was invited to give the Obafemi Awolowo Lecture under the chairmanship of Emeritus Professor Ayo Banjo and convinced that it would save many lives, I undertook to plead for the extension of the cell-phone to the medical personnel, particularly doctors on duty and nurses estimating that the immediate market would be 3,000,000 subscribers. I considered doing something dramatic like kneeling down and begging on camera but fortunately I did not go that far. If I had, I probably would have been roped in to the infamous ‘coup plot’ begging video. How wrong I was and how wrong were the forces which denied Nigeria and 100m Nigerians the cell-phone for another five years until Obasanjo allowed’ it, kick-starting a communication blitz and a trillion naira business. And so it will be for all the other restrictive policies of a strangulating federal system which was installed to strengthen the head, mafia and government, at the expense of a starved, strangled body – the people.

    Why are suspects held together, kept together, tied together during parades, transported together and then tried together. Are they interrogated together? Separating them from arrest to trial allows for crosschecking statements about an incident under investigation. Isolation from fellow accused is a tried and tested method of establishing the truth without violence or torture.

     

    • Uncover ‘I LOVE NIGERIA’ KNOWLEDGEABLE CANDIDATES for 2019 -SDG 16.      

  • Electoral Bill: Override Buhari’s assent, Agbakoba tells NASS

     

     

     

    Former President of Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) on Monday advised the National Assembly to override President Muhammadu Buhari’s assent on the controversial 2018 Electoral Act amendment Bill.

    Agbakoba, in the letter dated December 10 and addressed to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Speaker House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, argued Buhari’s reasons for withholding his assent to the Bill were not tenable.

    The letter entitled “Overriding the Presidential decline to assent to 2018 Electoral Act” was also addressed to all members of the National Assembly.

    It reads: “The decision of the President to withhold Assent in respect of a Bill to enact a Law to amend the Electoral Act makes no sense.

    “The final draft Bill considered by National Assembly (NASS), was agreed with the President, precisely to avoid challenges, such as now occurred.

    “The President states that part of the reason he has withheld assent is to avoid confusion as to the applicable legal framework for 2019 elections and the administrative capacity of INEC to cope with the new Electoral Act, as it is all too close to 2019 elections.

    “Distinguished and Honourable members will recall that the major amendment to 2018 Electoral Act relates to electronic technology for the conduct of the 2019 elections.

    “The 2015 elections were partly conducted by INEC, using smart cards (card readers) but the Supreme Court held that smart cards are not allowed, not been included in the Electoral Act 2010.

    “The 2015 elections were also partly conducted by INEC using Incident Forms; in effect smart cards and Incident Forms were both used to conduct 2015 elections.

    “Distinguished and Honourable members of NASS will recall that there was a lot of controversy about the use of Incident Forms as it enabled non accredited persons to vote, questioning the credibility of the elections.

    “In order to remove constraints that will impact the credibility of future elections, such as 2019, the Electoral Act 2010, was amended by the 2018 Bill, to formalize the legal basis of the Smart Cards which was already in use for elections by INEC anyway.

    “It will be recalled that the Supreme Court declared use of Smart Cards as contrary to the Electoral Act 2010, so the 2018 amendment is intended to give INEC a legal basis to use Smart Cards and Electronic Technology.

    “The 2018 Bill also introduced the extremely important procedure of transmitting results of votes from polling units by electronic means.

    “Electronic transmission will remove rigging and enhance the credibility of the Vote Count.

    “INEC says it is familiar with the amendments contained in the 2018 Electoral Bill.

    “INEC has used smart cards at all elections from 2015. INEC has submitted an election budget which provides for Smart Cards and transmission equipment.

    “The President claims that part of the reason for withholding assent, is that INEC will not have enough time to become familiar with the 2018 Bill and that a new Act will generate confusion.

    “This is simply incorrect and flies in the face of INEC’s announcement that it will not use Incident Forms or manual voting in 2019 elections.

    “In other words, INEC is ready to deploy electronic technology for 2019 elections, and only requires that the Electoral Act provides a legal framework.

    “The 2018 Amendments will help to improve the credibility of our elections and also give legal basis for INEC to deploy electronic technology in 2019 elections, following doubts cast by the Supreme Court about the legality of the use of card readers because it was not provided in the old Electoral Act of 2010.

    “Distinguished and Honourable members of NASS, are please please urged to override Mr. President and enact 2018 Electoral Act.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Buhari may present 2019 budget to NASS next week

    President Muhammadu Buhari may present the 2019 Budget to the National Assembly next week.

    But the lawmakers said they have not received any official communication  from the President.

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting yesterday approved the budget proposal for onward transmission to the National Assembly.

    According to a top source who spoke in confidence, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Sen. Ita Enang, has already opened up talks with the National Assembly leadership.

    The source said: “The government is looking at next week for budget presentation by the President. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Sen. Ita Enang, is already liaising with the leadership of the assembly.

    “So far, the Assembly leaders have not suggested any convenient date. Once we are able to mutually agree on a date, the President will officially write the legislature.

    “We want to lay the budget before the National Assembly goes on recess  for Christmas and New Year. As a matter of fact, we are looking at either Wednesday or Thursday.

    “With the FEC approval of the budget, the President will write the lawmakers accordingly.”

    The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas, said the National Assembly is awaiting official notice from the President.

    “Until we receive official communication from Mr. President, I cannot tell you the date the budget will be presented to the joint session of the National Assembly. So far, we have not heard from the President,”he said.

    The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, briefed State House correspondents at the end of the special FEC session chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    He was with the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed.

    According to him, it is now left for the National Assembly to agree on a date when President Muhammadu Buhari can present the document to the two chambers of the National Assembly.

    “We are hoping that as soon as possible, it would be presented. We will be in touch immediately with the National Assembly to fix the date. The budget is ready,” he said.

    When asked the details of the budget, he said: “It is the President’s budget. He presents it to the National Assembly.”

    The FEC had on the 24th October, 2018 approved the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) for the 2019 -2021 to provide template for the 2019 budget.

    The meeting had approved a budget estimate of N8.73tr for the 2019 budget, N400bn lower than that of this year.

    The price of crude oil per barrel was fixed at $60, while exchange rate at $305 and daily crude oil production was put at 2.3million by the FEC.

    The MTEF/ FSP was designed to translate  strategic development objective of the economic recovery and growth plan into a realistic and implementable budget framework.

  • Buhari revives abandoned projects – Fashola

    Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, Minister for Power, Works and Housing says the President Muhammadu Buhari’s led administration has created hope in the lives of Nigerians by reviving works on abandoned projects.

    According to the Minister, a number of projects were left uncompleted before the inception of the current administration in 2015.

    ” Buhari’s government revived the contract that were stopped.”

    Speaking to reporters in Sokoto on the sidelines of a 2-Day retreat organised for top officials of the three Ministries under his supervision, Fashola noted that the contracts were stopped due to paucity of funds.

    ” If a contractor does not get paid, there is no magic to getting the work completed. He will have no alternative than to stop.”

    The Minister explained that the current government has no alternative than to resort to the best option of borrowing to complete such projects of economic importance to the wellbeing and development of he country.

    Fashola said Nigerians should not blame the government on the slow phase of work rather should tailor their dissatisfaction against their representatives who were elected to serve them.

    ” They are guilty of the slow phase of work. They shut the NASS session for two months and delayed the passage of budget for close to 9 months.

    “You don’t expect the work that would have been done in decades to be completed within three and a half years”, he pointed out.

    He added that “we have to borrow through the Ministry of Finance and invest on road to enhance productivity, reduce journey, cost and time for business in order to generate income and wealth creation to payback the loans.

    He noted that a growing economy was a rewarding economy, pointing out that ” those who complain we borrow too much should tell us where else to find funds. We are not raising tax and if we do, they will still complain.”

    The Minister further defended the government on allegations that certain section of the country was suffering deficit of federal government projects especially in the Northwest saying that” no part of the country is not considered in the provision of infrastructure.

    ” We have considered and work on the Jega-Sokoto, Sokoto-Illela, UDUS road as well Abuja- Kaduna- Zaria-Kano and Jigawa roads respwctively in the Northwest.”

    He noted that road accidents and other risks would have been a thing of the past when such projects were completed.

    According to Fashola” the FRSC must also ensure the enforcement of traffic regulations especially speed monitoring and reckless driving among motorists particularly commercial vehicles.

    ” Though, records have shown that number of accidents, injuries and fatality are fast reducing monthly due to gradual change in our driving behaviours and our commitment to addressing the conditions of the roads”, he explained.

  • PIB may again suffer setback unless NASS, Executive dialogue – Sen. Adeola

    Sen. Solomon Adeola has called for dialogue between the National Assembly and the Executive to ensure passage of the different tranches of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

    Adeola, Chairman, Senate Committee on Local Content, made the call in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt at the end of oversight visit to Rivers and Bayelsa states.

    The lawmaker warned that grandstanding would only lead to a setback as suffered by various bills of the national assembly in the past.

    He said all hands must to be on deck to save the bill within the lifespan of the eight national assembly in view of the huge resources deployed to make it a reality.

    “We put in so much to pass the bill then transmitted for assent, which was declined.

    “For me, a bill of that magnitude not coming from the Executive that would be the major operator would definitely be of concerns, just as the President observed in the case of the PIGB.

    “There were concerns that it was meant to usurp the powers of the president and ministers.

    ” So, I believe the two arms of government should have a roundtable, agree on the modus operandi that will make the bill scale through this time.

    “There must be a rallying point where both arms will take a joint position so that we can unbundle this sector that is critical to the development of our dear nation.

    ” Some people might say there were public hearings on the bill but that is not enough. Until something concrete is done, the loggerhead will be there and the bill will suffer another setback, ” he said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that efforts to pass the bill since 2010 when it was put forward by former President Olusegun Obasanjo have not yielded result.

    The eight Assembly decided to pass the bill in tranches to make it easier for assent but the first tranche, the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), which was passed and sent for assent was declined over some concerns.

    NAN further reports that with about seven months to the end of the eight assembly, there are fears that the bill, which is meant to reposition the oil and gas sector, might suffer another setback.(NAN)

  • INEC receives 79 nominations for presidential poll

    The Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) on Friday said it received nominations from 79 political parties for the 2019 presidential election and 6,352 for the National Assembly.

    INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu disclosed this while addressing newsmen in Abuja on update on the implementation of activities for the 2019 general elections.

    The breakdown of the nominations for NASS according to Yakubu, is 1,856 nominations for the 109 Senate seats, and 4,496 nominations for the House of Representatives with 360 seats.

    Answering questions on the Supreme Court judgment on the All Progressives Congress (APC) Rivers State chapter primaries, Yakubu said that INEC was still awaiting the full text of the judgment to determine its next action.

    Also asked of update on INEC decision that APC Zamfara could not file in candidates for NASS elections, Yakubu said that the matter was still in three High Courts.

    “However, INEC did not receive any submission from APC Zamfara state. I will not say more than that because the matter is still in court.’’

    He said that three out of the outlined activities toward the 2019 general elections had been implemented starting with the publication of official notice for the elections.

    These, according to him, include submission of list and personal particulars of candidates that emerged from party’s primaries for Presidential and National Assembly elections from Oct. 10 to Oct. 18.

    Yakubu urged the general public to use the opportunity of the publication of the forms and particulars of the political parties’ nominated candidates at its offices across the nation, to raise their claims and objections.

    He said that the publication was for citizens to ascertain the personal details of the candidates to enable them to take informed decisions on election day.

    “Any person with reasonable ground to believe that any information on Form CF001 submitted by a candidate contains incorrect or false claims is at liberty to file an action against such candidate.

    “This can be filed at the Federal High Court or the High Court of a state or the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    “The current exercise is limited to candidates for Presidential and National Assembly elections.

    “That of personal particulars of those contesting in Governorship and State Assembly elections will be similarly published on Nov. 9, one week after the close of submission of nominations by political parties.’’

    Yakubu also disclosed that the register of voters for each polling unit would be displayed at the units nationwide for one week from Nov.6 to Nov. 12 for claims and objections.

    Read Also: Bamidele, Adeyeye, Olujimi, others cleared for Nass Poll

    He said that the Commission had cleaned up the register, using the Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).

    He added that citizens were allowed to examine the register and exercise their civic duty by drawing the attention of INEC to the prevalence of any ineligible persons to further clean it up.

    “The Commission will also appreciate the assistance of citizens in identifying deceased persons on the register so that such names can be annulled from our record.

    “It is also an opportunity to correct misspellings of personal details such as names, age and gender.’’

    Yakubu also disclosed that INEC recently received declaration of vacancies to conduct by-elections, following the election of two serving members of the House of Representatives as Senators in the by-elections conducted on Aug. 11.

    “The Speaker has declared consequential vacancies in the Toro Federal Constituency in Bauchi State and the Kankia/Kusada/Ingawa Federal Constituency in Katsina State.

    “Similarly, the Cross River State House of Assembly has declared vacancy in Ikom II State Constituency following the death of the member representing the Constituency. Consequently, the Commission will conduct by-elections in the three (3) constituencies.

    “We have directed our Resident Electoral Commissioners in Bauchi, Katsina and Cross River State to convene stakeholders’ meetings immediately and prepare for the by-elections latest by Saturday Nov. 17.

    “Detailed timetable and schedule of activities for the by-elections will be released on Tuesday next week.’’

    Yakubu assured Nigerians that preparations for the 2019 General Elections were proceeding in earnest and according to the detailed timetable and schedule of activities released by the commission.

    “It is exactly 112 days to the elections. We shall continue to faithfully and consistently implement the timetable and all activities.’’

  • NASS working to pass bills in nation’s interest, Says Senate Leader

    The Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan, on Friday gave indication that peace has returned to the National Assembly.

    According to him, lawmakers are more interested in working for the national interest by passing the relevant bills that would move the nation forward.

    Prior to the reconvening of the National Assembly on Tuesday, Lawan had declared at the All Progressives Congress (APC) Convention at the Eagle Square on Saturday night that APC will not allow leadership of the National Assembly run away with its mandate.

    While the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu has been of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the Senate President, Bukola Saraki had recently defected from the APC to the PDP.

    But speaking on the crisis with State House correspondents on Friday at the Presidential Villa, Lawan said “I don’t know what informed your view to anticipate crisis but let me tell you that NASS will continue to remain focus on national issues, we must be patriotic, nationalistic, we must put national interest above individual, parochial or partisan interest.

    “We definitely have to bury our hatchets for us to work for Nigeria and Nigerians perhaps that might have informed the disappointment of many people that there will be crisis in the National Assembly.

    “Let me also say that disagreements are usual, in fact they are very practical components of any parliament, when you have 2 to 3 parties or even within parties you will have views that may differ.

    “It is traditional, it is usual for us to disagree maybe this disagreements may crop up and some other issues but for now our focus is on national interest.” he said

    Asked if the idea of impeachment has been dropped, he said “The National Assembly is a Nigerian parliament and therefore the best thing to do is to ensure that Nigerians gets a good deal and for now the good deal is for Nigeria to have all those pending request of Mr President approved by the National Assembly.

    “I think the national interest for now override any other interest.” he said.

    Read Also: Why Atiku picked Peter Obi as running mate – Daniel

    Speaking further on the resumption day, he said “Well you could see from day one, day one Tuesday was not an eventful day because the National Assembly lost a member, a member from Kwara. So traditionally, we normally don’t work on such a day when the death will be officially announced.

    “But Wednesday and Thursday witnessed the focus and concentration of members of the National Assembly on the request of Mr President for the funding of INEC for elections to be conducted in 2019 and we passed in the Senate and the House did also.

    “We passed the request of Mr President for N189 billion for INEC activities for 2019.On Thursday the committee on appropriation invited the head of the security agencies to come and defend the request that Mr President made on their behalf for funding of their supervisory and oversight roles during the elections in 2019.

    “We also had the referral of the request of Mr President approval for foreign loan component of the 2018 appropriation and that is about 2.78 billion dollars eurobond. We have gone full blast consciously, purposely to ensure that Mr President gets what’s he request, we lost time because some of the issues were requested for before we went on our recess.

    “But we have also in the Senate passed confirmations of the CBN deputy governor, ICPC governing body and we are determined to continue to do this throughout this period.

    “Our intention is to ensure that Mr President doesn’t lack from inactivity of the NASS that whatever he requests, the fundamentals aspects especially will be attended to, this is our determination both as APC senators infact as senate and National Assembly.” he added

  • Garba advocates more women in NASS

    Senator Binta Masi Garba, who represents Adamawa North Zone in the National Assembly (NASS) has advocated for more the election of women into the National Assembly to promote gender equity and give teeth to the implementation of the Beijing Declaration on rights of women.

    Binta, who is the only sitting woman senator from the spoke after her endorsement by the All Progressives Congress (APC) for   the Senate. She expressed joy over the emergence of Hon. Aishatu Dahiru (Binani) and Hon. Binta Bello as APC senatorial candidates from the Northeast.

    Binta urged women to embrace partisan politics to enhance their chances of participating in policy making to enhance the capacity and opportunities for women. She said: “I’m happy Adamawa and Gombe have three women candidates from the zone. If more women emerge as lawmakers, the better for us to address women and girl child challenges. We know our problems and they are better  addressed by us.”

    Masi said her endorsement by the APC to seek reflection to the Senate come the 2019 general election came to her as a surprise but that it showed the level of confidence people had in her.

    She promised to address the problems of the people in her constituency in the areas of agriculture, health and education, and appealed for intervention for the people of her constituency affected by the insurgency.