Member of the House of Representatives for Degema/Bonny Federal Consistency, Hon Sokonte Davies, has stressed the need for the amendment of the House rules to enable bills pending in the House to be passed with ease before the present Assembly runs its course.
Hon Davies who made the suggestion in an interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt at the weekend said amending the House rules would facilitate the passage of the bills without allowing them to pass through all the laid down procedures.
He said doing so would go a long way to reduce the pressure being piled on the House by members of the public seeking the passage of the bills, acknowledging that such pressure had become enormous, overwhelming and unbearable.
The lawmaker who also acknowledged that several bills were still pending in the House despite the present Assembly having barely a few weeks to wind up its activities suggested that urgent measures should be put in place to ensure that such bills were not carried over to the next Assembly expected to be inaugurated next month.
According to him, carrying the bills over to the next Assembly would amount to a colossal waste of public funds since the processes leading to their passage would start all over again.
To this end, Hon Davies said the greatest challenge facing the present National Assembly was to pass the bills before the expiration of the tenure of the sixth Assembly, stressing, however, that there was the need to properly pass the bills despite the pressure on the House. “People are saying pass these bills, pass these bills. It is not proper to pass the bills in a hurry because most times if the bills are passed, there are certain areas that are not part of the bills. So, it will also be important that we pass a proper bill because it is said that what is worth doing is worth doing well,” he said
The parliamentarian, however, disclosed that the Freedom of Information Bill had already been passed by both the Senate and House of Representatives while a Conference  Committee had been set up to harmonise what had been passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly.
He noted that processes for the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill had reached an advanced stage, and pleaded for understanding.
Hon Davies who also admitted that the N10billion loan scandal involving the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Dimeji Bankole had divided members of the House assured that the members would at the end of the day come up with a decision that would not rub off on the credibility ad integrity of the House.
Hon Davies who said the presentation of a certificate of return to him by INEC symbolised the end of the electioneering period appealed to members of other political parties who contested the April 9 National Assembly elections with him to join hands in taking the Degema/Bonny Federal Constituency to the next level, expressing delight that they accepted the outcome of the elections in good faith.
He said the fact that his opponents did not challenge his victory in court had put him in a better stead to concentrate on the task ahead in the next four years and provide the much-needed dividends of democracy  to his constituents.
The lawmaker also extended his hands of fellowship to members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who contested the primaries of the party with him, urging them to come on board because as he put it, “I don’t believe that anybody is a loser”..
He said he needed the support of everybody in the constituency in the same way he would have supported the candidate of the party if he had lost the primaries, and thanked his constituents for their support.

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