The Senate has invited the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal to appear before its Committees on Appropriation, Finance and Ethics after a comment attributed to him in a National Newspaper that Zonal Intervention projects may not be implemented
Raising the point of order at the Senate plenary on Tuesday, 12th July, 2016, Sen. Matthew Urhoghide (PDP:Edo) intimated the Senate that failure to implement zonal constituency projects could leave constituencies in limbo. Sen. Urhoghide also expressed dismay over the comments and highlighted that large expectations were usually placed by constituents on lawmakers to provide relief and development through the implementation of zonal projects. In addition, Sen. Urhogide challenged the SGF over the legality of his comments stating that the total sum for Zonal intervention projects was less than 1% of the 2016 Appropriation Law and that its non-implementation would be tantamount to a violation of the law and an impeachable offence. He also described the SGF’s comments as a “disdain” to the National Assembly before proposing his summon in the shortest possible time.
Contributing to the discussion, Sen. Bala Ibn Na’allah (APC:Borno) reminded the Senate that the Minister of Finance or Budget and National Planning were better placed to make such comments. He was also convinced that the SGF’s comments were unrepresentative of President Mohammadu Buhari’s position. He urged lawmakers to disregard statements by people unauthorized to speak on behalf of the Government.
However, Sen. Biodun Olujimi (PDP:Ekiti) took a different view stating that the SGF is the highest administrative representative of the government and as such statements made by him were policy statements. She agreed however that the SGF spoke carelessly and supported his invitation to the Senate. In addition, Sen. Adamu Aliero (APC:Kebbi) commented that the alleged statement by the SGF was contrary to newspapers adverts he had seen. He also recalled that that Mrs Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Finance had promised that the 2016 budget would be implemented to the letter. However, he reminded the Senate that Nigeria hadoften struggled to fully implement its budget and it would be unrealistic to expect otherwise in the 2016 budget. Consequently, he proposed the invitation of the Minister of Finance rather than the SGF.
The Senate Chairman on the Committee on Appropriations, Sen. Danjuma Goje (APC:Gombe) also expressed surprise over the alleged statements and mentioned that he had sent invitation letters to the Ministers on Finance and Budget and National Planning to explain why the zonal constituency projects would not be implemented.
The Senate Committees on Appropriation and Finance are expected to report back to the Senate on this issue by the end of the week.
