Issues over constituency projects

THE outcry over some weighty allegations leveled against the National Assembly members over a sum of N1 trillion allocated for constituency projects by the executive arm of government has resurfaced. The issue was on the floor of the House of Representatives as the Committee on Ethics and Privileges laid its report. The recommendations of the committee should interest all Nigerians, who pay taxes. The report was just laid in line with legislative tradition, and would be listed for consideration at a time to be determined by the House Committee on Rules and Business which determines the fate of sponsors of bills, motions, Standing and Ad-hoc Committees, as well as other legislative activities. The bureaucratic bottleneck which the committee constitutes is another story for the day.

At the resumed investigative hearing held on Wednesday by the Ad-hoc Committee investigating the lease of Federal Government-owned assets, the lid was opened on the controversial National Public Securities Communications Systems project for which the previous government obtained $490 million loan from China. The project includes the installation of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) in Lagos and Abuja, as well as other states. One the stakeholders at the investigative hearing and Director for Projects of MTS Technologies, Mathew Udanogh, who handed over the National Public Securities Communications Systems, alleged that the actual value of the project was $17 million after an audit conducted by KPMG, against the sum of $490 million loan obtained by Federal Government for the project.

According to him, the network of about 700 base stations called the National Public Securities Communications Systems (NPSCS), started

in 2008 and commissioned in 2012. He said it was initiated to provide advanced communications capabilities for the police and other security agencies. The reports of previous Investigative hearings conducted by the National Assembly have been kept in abeyance.

Meanwhile, there was disquiet during the plenary as the deputy Speaker, Honourable Idris Wase tactically rejected a proposed motion raised by Honourable Solomon Bob (PDP-River) on the need to caution the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami on a statement on the crisis trailing the ban of open grazing in the southern region of the country.

The lawmaker, who raised a Point of Order 6 of the 9th Assembly Standing Order, had said: “We say this is a people’s House and as a people’s House we should not deliberate in fear or fear to deliberate. Part of my duties as a member of this House is to call attention, not just in terms of legislation but to such matters, actions, utterances of public officers that are likely to endanger the oneness and the well-being of this country. And I am saying this with regards to the utterance of Attorney-General Abubakar Malami yesterday (Wednesday, on Channels TV (and) reported today everywhere, both in the mainstream and social media.”

Honourable Bob alleged that the minister’s “utterance is to the effect that he tried to analogise the proposed ban on open grazing to spare parts business. He also claimed that the minister tried to suggest that the proposed ban amounted to an infringement on Section 41 of the Constitution which deals with the Freedom of Movement. He said: “Those two arguments are ingenious…The proposed open grazing ban, to compare it to the business of spare parts is incendiary to and it is also loaded with ethnic slur. We don’t need that now in the country.” He was however prevented from buttressing his argument as the deputy speaker interjected. Despite repeated appeals urging the Wase to grant him audience to conclude the presentation, Honourable Wase said: “I want to tell you in all honesty, what you are now bringing has nothing to do with that; it has nothing to do with that. Let us not be introducing things that you know; you are a lawyer. I want to beg of you; you are free to come with any motion regarding what has been mentioned which you feel is not right. But you can’t come upon this Point of Order, it is not in line with your own thoughts, it is not in line with the House rules. So, I want to ask you to please take your seat, please.” Of course, the development did not augur well with a number of lawmakers who did not want their names mentioned in print.

The allegation by the House spokesman, Honourable Benjamin Kalu that the media was responsible for the public outcry on Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila’s comment on the Southern Governors Forum recent call for restructuring of the country was also curious. In the statement by Kalu, he categorically blamed online and traditional media for the purported “twist” in the interview granted by the speaker at the State House, alleging that the “publications are false and misleading.” He added: “This is not a time for name-calling or blaming one person or the other. If truth be told, we all have equal shares in the blame and whatever challenges we have, we all must come together. In the same way we all have equal shares, we must all come are not. Like I said earlier, the greatest nations have gone through challenges worse than this and I believe that it is that spirit of oneness and that spirit of togetherness and unity and love that will take us through this. You know sometimes there are many things that people have said here and there and you never know where these things are coming from. “

Kalu alleged that it was clear that nothing in the statement opposed the southern governors’ call for restructuring. According to him, “Indeed, from the beginning of the 9th Assembly, the House under the leadership of Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila has reiterated its commitment to a thorough review of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as can be seen by the composition and activities of the Constitutional Review Committee of the House. As far as Kalu is concerned, the media tried to misleadthe public, stating: “The media is hereby cautioned to be mindful of peddling false news in the bid to misinform the general public. This is misleading and detrimental to our democracy as a nation.”

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