10th NASS Speakership: The Man the Cap Fits for the Job

By oOkwo Romeon

A Former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in his letter to Nigerians, where he urged them to elect a credible leader in the just concluded 2023 general elections has this to said: “I have come to realise a number of factors in character, attributes and attitude that are necessary in the job of directing the affairs of Nigeria successfully and at a time like this. These characteristics or attributes are many but let us be mindful of some key ones together.

According to the former leader, from his interaction and experience, and as a mentor to most people’s highlight what he say,without prejudice, fear or ill-will are four major factors people should watch out for in a leader which he went ahead to coined as TVCP.
In juxtaposing,he mentioned the quality such of a leader to include the following: Track record of ability and performance; Vision that is authentic, honest and realistic; Character and attributes of a lady and a gentleman …etc

Looking at the current jostling for who becomes the Speaker of the tenth House of Assembly, it will be very apt to ignore former President Olusegun Obasanjo criteria of a good leadership.

For a National Assembly that will be up-tasking to meet up the pie of expectations Nigerians expect from the incoming administration,it will only be ideally to have a senate President and Speaker of House of Representative that is a round peg in decision making and with a knowledge of every aspect and strata of the nation parliament.

Searching for such a person would have been a higher task, but thank Allah, the Nigerian media remain a very interesting prism that the Nigerians public follows in a situation like this as the X-ray of records of their parliamentary reports is be bring to the public including activities,records and competence of all members jostling for the number one seat in both chambers.

According to a Thisday newspaper report, “one Honourable member of the House that has become a positive feature in the last five Assemblies is being favoured to lead the House of Representatives. He is Honourable Muktar Aliyu Betara, an accountant and high-ranking lawmaker who was first elected into the House in 2007 to represent the Biu/Bayo/Shani Federal Constituency.

There is no doubt, Honorable Aliyu Muktar Betera has been a reoccurring positive decimal in the political development in the national parliament ,his contributions in the last four Assembly had seen his political party cemented smooth political deals that had produced many Speakers of the Nigeria parliament without rancor

Who is Muktar Aliyu Betara??
Rt.Hon.Muktar Aliyu Betara is a Nigerian accountant and lawmaker, first elected to the Federal House of Representative in 2007 to represent the Biu/Bayo/Shani and Kwaya Kusar Federal Constituency of Borno state from the North-eastern region of Nigeria.And currently the Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations in the 9th Assembly is an erudite politicians with open door policy to all Nigerians.
A senior ranking member of the Federal House of Representative sparkling over a decades will be making his fourth tenure as a member of the House of Representative which is fully prepared and equipped for the leadership of the 10th Assembly.

Rt.Honorable Aliyu Betara is an indigene of Wuyo in Biu township Biu local government area of Borno State. Born on 22 November 1966 into a large family,he is the twelfth of 21 children. His father was a civil servant heading several community councils while his mother was a devoted housewife.

Betara quest for education seen him began his early education at Biu Central Primary School in 1973 where he obtained his First School Leaving Certificate in 1978.
He proceeded to Biu Central Junior Day Secondary School, and then to Government Technical Secondary School Benishek, Borno State, where his leadership skills saw him becoming head prefect, and eventually obtain his West Africa School Certificate in 1983.

His advanced for education took him to the Ramat Polytechnic, Maiduguri where he obtained his Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in Business Administration in 1986 after which he launched into his professional career working as an Accountant with the Presidency under the defunct Directorate for Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFFRI) programme from 1986 to 1990.

Again young Betera returned to Ramat Polytechnic for his Higher National Diploma in 1990 and obtained an HND in Accounting and Business Administration in 1992,and proceeds to observed his compulsory one year first-nationhood services ( National Youth Service Corp NYSC) programme at Delta State Government House, Asaba.

Upon completion of his service year, he joined the defunct Nigerian Telecommunication Limited (NITEL) in 1993 rising through the ranks to the role of Manager before his voluntary retirement in 2006 to venture into politics.

Betara reportedly entered the race for the House of Representatives on the platform of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) and got elected as the member representing the interests of Biu, Kwaya Kusar, Bayo and Shani Federal Constituency at the House of Assembly in 2007.

Since then, he has been re-elected three times, emerging as one of the few members to have served in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth assemblies in Nigeria, with the current and immediate past tenures secured on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC)

Hon Betera will be remember as the man behind the success of the nation budgetary circle of every October first as adopted by the Buhari administration to maintain the yearly budgetary colander.

According to Thisday report again on the competence and reliance of Hon Aliyu Betera,the Thisday analysis has this to say.
“The successes of the current budgeting system now in place by the Federal Government could be attributable to his efforts in the 9th Assembly that first sat on the 11th day of June 2019. As the current Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, presiding over all other committees regarding appropriation and committees of both chambers for the budget and subsequent signing by the President,

Since elected to the national parliament,Rt Hon Aliyu Betera has held many post and served in various committees,chairing Add-hoc Committee of very important House investigations.
Between 2007 and 2011, Betara acted as Chairman of the Sub-committee on NDIC, Banking and Currency. He also served as a member of the House Committee on Interior, and was subsequently appointed as Chairman, Sub-committee on Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Office (CIPPO).

At the seventh assembly (2011 to 2015), he was appointed as Chairman, House Committee on the Army, directly making recommendations to empower and sustain the activities of the army against the rising insurgency in the Northern region of Nigeria.
From 2015 to 2019, Betara served as Chairman of the House Committee on Defence.He is the current Chairman of the House committee on Appropriations, presiding over all other committees regarding the appropriation process in the House of Representatives.Under his leadership, the committee has succeeded in having the June-to-June budget cycle changed to a preferable January-to-December one for a more effective budget implementation.

As a result, the Appropriation Act, 2022 and the Finance Act, 2021 have been passed and enacted respectively for the third consecutive year without fail, enabling all stakeholders to prepare adequately for any fiscal changes.

Betara has been lauded for his critical decision-making and crisis management skills in the House His legislative interests include Youth and Women Empowerment, Developmental Governance, Health, Education, Social and National Security, as well as providing equal opportunities. He is believed to be responsible for the construction of 20 health care centers, 10 ambulances, a mini-stadium and the installation of more than 600 solar-powered street lights in his constituency.

Betara is a philanthropy who is believed to have deployed his personal resources to fund many less privilege illnesses and empower individuals for business and support local families in his constituency and to most Nigerians

Rt Hon Murtar Aliyu Betara is a man with several caps of awards,among the announced received ones includes the following;
Democracy Hero’s Award for Best Performing Rep Member of the year, 2020.
Award of Excellence by the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), North-East Zone, 2013.
He is also a member of the Nigeria Institute of Management.
Personal life
Indeed,he is the right man for the speakership of the tenth Assembly.

Okwo romeon is a journalist/blogger/ public Relations and social commentator .He write from Lagos .email: bonromeon@gmail.com