SAN FRANCISCO, APRIL 9, (THEWILL) – The National Assembly wants control, it wants to appropriate and determine how the billions of naira mostly raised by the private sector to fight COVID-19 are disbursed.
Senate President, Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan and House of Representatives Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila made their intentions public during a meeting with members of the Presidential Task Force on COVID -19 led by Mr. Boss Mustapha, its Chairman.
The funds are being mobilized through an initiative coordinated by Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote.
At least N22 billion in cash and kind have been vacuumed from rich donors – businessmen, corporates, politicians, foreign donors and some government agencies.
The NASS leaders say all donations ought to be paid into a federation single account to allow the National Assembly appropriate it as prescribed by the constitution.
THEWILL however gathered that Mr. Mustapha and Mr. Emefiele opposed the move. Emefiele, we were told by a source, explained the structure of the private sector donations and cautioned that the donations were being superintended by a committee made up of the donors, who are closely overseeing its effective use to improve the nation’s poor healthcare system and generate capacity to fight the coronavirus disease.
Lawan said: “We hear of the donations made by various corporate organisations but there is no coordination. The National Assembly, we have also made donations. I believe we must have a central body to receive and manage the funds. Whatever money has been raised by NNPC, the IOCs, everybody, should be in one account. Where the PTF should have a request, it should pass through us.”
Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila said: “It is to the National Assembly that the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria assigns the authority to oversee appropriations from the public purse. The appropriation role does not terminate upon passage of the budget.
“It continues through oversight of disbursements from the federation accounts and implementation of funding priorities.
“Where the National Assembly limits itself merely to pass the budget, it has abandoned its fundamental obligation and failed in its duty to the Nigerian people.
“To suggest that the National Assembly cannot or should not exercise its oversight responsibility over government expenditure, based on agreements entered into with any third parties at home and abroad is contemptuous of the Nigerian people on whose behalf we exercise this authority.
“We will continue to demand and expect to receive the information that will allow us in the National Assembly to make informed decisions about the National Social Investment Programs.”
Gbajabiamila also commented on the NSIP, which has pitched the National Assembly against the presidency over their lack of input into how the programme’s funds are disbursed.
“We do not intend to throw aspersions on the individual reputations of those who manage or have managed the National Social Investment Programs.
“Our interventions are not in service of politics or personal ambitions. We simply have a responsibility to ensure that funds belonging to the Nigerian people and held in trust by the Federal Government are managed transparently, with records properly kept and available now and in the future. We fully intend to meet this responsibility,” he said.
Responding, Mustapha urged the lawmakers to develop a legislative framework to prepare Nigeria for any future pandemic; develop a legislative framework for reforming and transforming our healthcare systems and warned that “Our nation is at war against a very dangerous, unseen and ubiquitous enemy and all hands must be on deck to successfully prosecute the war.”
He further urged the National Assembly to “Strengthen the legislative framework for economic growth through domestic manufacturing; deepen the legislative oversight during this pandemic and beyond;
“Pass legislations that will further ease the ability of the executive to cushion the impact of the economic decline; and be part of community mobilization and enlightenment efforts.”
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