2020 Budget: Reps turn down diaspora budget defence

The House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora Matters on Tuesday turned the defence of Diaspora budget of the Directorate for Technical Cooperation in Africa for the 2020 physical year, insisting on the physical appearance of the Acting Director-General of the Agency, Mallam Mahmood Adamu Yahaya before it.

Speaking at the opening session when the budget was expected to have been defended before the Committee, its Chairperson, Hon. Titilope Akande Sodipe and other members lamented that the non-appearance of the DG before it was an affront on the House.

The Committee at the session which was attended by the Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Zubairu Dada, insisted that the Director-General must appear before the Committee before the budget “can be entertained”.

The Committee rejected the plea by the Minister on behalf of the management and request that the desk officer in the agency in charge of Diaspora matters is allowed to present the budget, citing possible communication breakdown.

The Chairperson of the Committee told the Minister that the agency had been playing on the intelligence of the Committee, adding that they were not impressed with his first outing when he failed to come with the Director in charge of Diaspora matters.

According to her: “When they first came, they told us that the person who would have briefed us was on suspension. We have since found out that the person was not on suspension.

“We now invited them back and they have refused to come. It is an affront on both the Ministry and the Committee because they knew that the Minister was going to be here.

“The House demands that they must be here because this is not a communication breakdown. We have been communicating with them since Thursday when they last came here and we made the position of the House very clear.

“So, this issue will not stop here. We acknowledge your apology on their behalf, but we do not accept that there was a communication breakdown.

“We believe that it was intentional and disregard because what they are telling us is that because we will listen to the personnel on the diaspora desk, they will not come. That is what they have made clear and that is total disregard for the Minister, the ministry and the House.

“We have accepted your apology, but it is not acceptable. He has to be here to represent his agency. We were not impressed by his initial visit. It is on record what happened here on his first visit.

But it is important, so as not to stall the budget process, that we listen to the gentleman that is here.

“As we all know, we want Nigeria to go back to the January/December budget circle and we are trying our very best as a House to ensure that we finish everything necessary on our side.

” I want to reiterate  that this was not a communication break down, it is an affront on the House.”

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In his contribution, a member of the Committee, Hon. Babatunde Humpe said that the Committee had since discovered that there were some internal fighting within the agency and asked the Minister to help resolve whatever problem the agency was facing.

According to him: “We don’t have a full oversight function over the agency, but we discovered that there is a Diaspora desk at the agency and that is why we invited them to come and defend the budget allocation to that desk.

“But on arrival here, the Acting DG failed to come with the Director in charge of that desk and was unable to give us the brief that we want and he refused to allow those with him to present, but eventually asked the man in charge of ICT to do the brief. We asked the man in charge of that desk.

“During our investigation, we discovered that there is an internal problem within them. After this presentation, I want to appeal that you go back and assist that agency resolve whatever the issues are with them.

“Hon. Minister, out of your tight schedule, you still find time to meet this Committee. But how does it sound that a DG who knows the importance of budget defence and what we are doing today refuse to appear?.

“If the budget this young man is going to present has any fault, he should take responsibility. Who should take responsibility? So, we would like him to be here before the presentation of that budget.”

Also contributing, Hon Tijani Ismail said: “We have met a series of MDAs and agencies and one person cannot come and defend a budget. Being absent from public hearing or budget defence is a punishable offence. I did not make the law and we should be law-abiding citizens. One director cannot defend the budget of a particular agency.

“With due respect Mr Minister, we are doing our work and we have a series of questions to ask and we need total cooperation. We have made up our mind that the 9th Assembly will be a unique one and we want to have a good relationship with the Executive.

“If we now invite a Director to come and play a unique role assigned to him, why should we drag. We are disappointed. We created time to move forward while some of our colleagues are in the chamber because of the time frame for the budget defence. We are not happy with the action. We would want to see the DG in this House.”

While apologising to the House for the absence of the officials of the DTCA, the Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Zubairu Dada attributed the absence of the Acting Director-General of the agency to possible communication breakdown.

He pledged to personally ensure the Director-General and his management team appeared before the Committee on Wednesday.

According to him: “With due respect Madam Chair Person, if you the officer to talk about his desk, that will be ok, but if you want him to speak on the DTCA as a whole, I don’t think that will be ideal.

“I believe there must have been a break in communication. I don’t know, but I want to believe so. Whatever it, if you want him to speak on diaspora, that will be most appropriate. But to talk about the whole organisation, the DG himself will come and do that. I have asked them to get in touch with him. Let me apologise on their behalf.

“I still want to believe that there is a breakdown in communication, but who am I to say there is when the Chairman has said there is not. If I can come here, nothing stops the Director-General not to be here.

“If you want the budget defence of the DTCA, it is only fair that the DG and his management team are here. But if you want to talk about Diaspora only, maybe the desk officer can talk about that. I want the assure this House that I will make sure that he present himself before the House. So, I want to plead with the Committee to be lenient with us.”