Reps Begin Investigative Hearing On N300bn Aviation, Power Intervention Fund

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Tuesday, February 18th, 2014

The African Examiner

Aminu Tambuwal, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tuesday reiterated the commitment of the House towards exposing all forms of corruption in the disbursement of the N300 billion power and airline intervention fund initiated by the Federal Government.

Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Reps Aminu Tambuwal

Tambuwal declared this at the opening of the public hearing organised by the Adhoc committee on the disbursement of public funds by Bank of Industry (BoI) as established by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The Speaker, who frowned at the spate of corruption in the country, however reiterated the commitment of the Legislature towards upholding the constitution.

Tambuwal said “We shall continue to devote attention to situations where the action of government or any of its agencies infringe on the constitution.

“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.”

Tambuwal emphasised that the Legislature has the constitutional role of ensuring that where funds are so authorized to be withdrawn that they are not subjected to waste, corruption, or inefficiency.

He added “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”, he noted.

In his remarks, Yakubu Dogara, chairman of the Adhoc committee, explained that the investigative public hearing was in response to various agitations from different quarters that disbursement of the fund did not follow due process.

He said “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.

“This is one of the major reasons why Investigative Hearing such as this, remains a bourgeoning pillar of participator)’ democracy. It is vital at this point, that I highlight an overview of how this Hearing will be guided.”