Honourable Edward Pwajok was named as the chairman of the nine man ad hoc committee to probe the fund.
The House resolution followed a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by the Honourable Mohammed Abdu entitled, “need to stop the implementation of the Bama Initiative, BI by non-statutory committees and remit same to Presidential committee on North East Initiative, PCNI for proper mandatory execution”.
While moving the motion, the lawmaker raised alarm over, ” plethora of complaints and rumblings in the main and social media regarding the alleged intended abnormal movement of appropriated North East Intervention Fund meant to be domiciled and utilized by the Presidential committee on North East Initiative, PCNI and that of consolidated pool account domiciled in the office of Accountant General of the Federation “.
According to him, “The Bama Initiative as conceived is not meant to be handled by the statutory PCNI but by no statutory special committee floating between the Ministry of Budget and National planning and the presidency.
“The N28 billion (N18.0billion from PCNI account and N10.0 billion from consolidated pool account) are not being moved through proper and approved regulated financial flow systems of the government (supplementary budget, vehement and direct capital releases)”.
He however said that, “if the movement of funds is allowed to go through, it will lead to serious breaches of the constitution, the appropriation act and the financial regulation and extant rules of the services of the country”.
The ad hoc committee set up to investigate the matter is expected to report back to the House within two weeks for further legislative input.
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