The leadership of the House of Representatives on Tuesday expressed concern over the misapplication of the N300 billion power and airline intervention fund by the Federal Government.
Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, who expressed dismay about the rationale behind the dwindling of the fund to N100 billion, directed the relevant committees to investigate the disbursement of the fund.
Tambuwal gave the directive while declaring open the public hearing held at the instance of the ad hoc committee on the disbursement of public funds by Bank of Industry (BoI), as established by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Reiterating the commitment of the House towards upholding the Constitution, Tambuwal assured that the probe is geared towards ensuring that the funds are not wasted or embezzled.
“We shall continue to devote attention to situations where the action of government or any of its agencies infringe on the constitution”, he said.
“By some accounts, the volume of this fund, which originally amounted to about N300 billion, has now dwindled to less than N100 billion. Officials claim that the sum of over N200 billion have been disbursed through deposit money banks to certain individuals and corporate organisations without following due process.
“You will agree with me that we have a very serious issue here, which falls within the precincts of the constitutional mandate given to the National Assembly that all revenues belonging to the federation must be paid into the consolidated revenue fund, withdrawals therein shall only be carried out solely upon the authority of an Act of the National Assembly”.
The speaker explained that the Legislature has the constitutional role of ensuring that where funds are so authorized to be withdrawn that they are not subjected to waste, corruption, or inefficiency, “Section 88 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, makes it mandatory for the National Assembly to protect the interest of the citizens and the general tax payer, with respect to the use of public funds.
“In this vein, we shall not hesitate to recommend appropriate sanctions where any such violation has been deemed to have occurred. However, we shall not pursue every rumour of misdeed or subject government officials to unnecessary harassment either”.
In his welcome address, the chairman of the committee, Yakubu Dogara was mandated by the House, following agitations from different quarters that disbursement of the fund did not follow due process.
“In this process, specialized views and expert opinions are sought in a way that fully erases all time-inconsistencies, as well as making- up for informed dynamics and complexities that occur as a result of changing times”, Dogara said.
He further noted that this manifests in a way that increases the quality of public funds value-addition. Hence, the philosophy behind the legislative oversight on the activities of the Executive (financial and otherwise), is hinged on the hallowed principle of separation of powers; that the credibility of any item of public spending is enhanced whenever any item of public expenditure is passed through the deep heat of legislative chemotherapy.
“This is one of the major reasons why investigative hearings, such as this, remain a bourgeoning pillar of participatory democracy”, he said.
