SAN FRANCISCO, September 19, (THEWILL) – The House of Representatives will, from Tuesday, proceed on a one week oversight mission to all ministries, departments and agencies of government (MDAs) to assess the level of implementation of the 2013 Appropriation Act.
Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Zakari Mohammed, who disclosed this while briefing journalists, explained that although members would be on oversight for one week, committee work will also be going on simultaneously.
He said this was in line with the legislative agenda of the House and in compliance with the declaration of the Speaker, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, last Tuesday.
It will be recalled that Tambuwal, while welcoming members from recess, had decried the poor implementation of the budget, saying: “Budget implementation still remains a sore point of governance.
The level of implementation of the 2013 capital appropriation is way below expectation given the early submission by the Executive and equally early passage by the Legislature”.
The speaker had also said: “So far, by the information and statistics at our disposal, there would appear to be no justification for this state of affairs. However , in order to be comprehensively guided, all the Committees of the House will proceed on one week of oversight to Ministries, Department and Agencies at the end of which they shall submit their reports to the Committees on Legislative Budget and Research and that of Legislative Compliance.
The two Committees will collate same and submit a joint report to plenary for consideration. This report will guide the House in the consideration of the 2014 budget proposals.”
In a related development, the House has denied reports that the Speaker, Tambuwal, may be impeached following his alleged romance with the Alhaji Kawu Abubakar Baraje faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The House spokesman clarified that the power to remove the Speaker rests on the entire members of the House and not just few party members, stressing that “we’re not contemplating such.”
He also denied allegations that money had been distributed to members to impeach Tambuwal, saying the leadership of the House is not involved in that. He added that the House as an institution does not have hand in such.
When asked whether the principal officers won’t be involved in the alleged impeachment plot, Zakari advised that no fear should be entertained.
By Saint Mugaga, Abuja
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