Speaker Gbajabiamila sponsors bill seeking to drop the title Hon from members' designation

HOUSE of Representatives speaker Hon Femi Gbajabiamila has sponsored a bill seeking to change lawmakers’ appellation to Representatives from the current designation of Honourable as part of a series of changes.

In a piece of legislation titled A Bill for an Act to Amend the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, 2017, Hon Gbajabiamila is seeking to legalise the change in the address and designation of a member through the amendment bill. Already, members of the current ninth House, including the speaker himself, have been using the title Rep before their names, instead of the Honourable or Hon that has been in use for ages.

This new bill seeks to insert new Sections 21 and 22 into the Legislative Houses (Powers And Privileges) Act, which will thus read: “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. 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.”

Hon Gbajabiamila wrote in the explanatory note: “This bill seeks to define the designation and address before the name of a member of the National Assembly.” It is not yet clear of the bill will be passed before the end of the current assembly.