Lawmakers to quiz Sanusi and Aganga over comments - NEXT

The National Assembly has summoned the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido, and the finance minister, Olusegun Aganga, to defend comments on legislative expenditure by the government.

The summons in both chambers of the National Assembly is following comments attributed to the CBN governor that the National Assembly is serviced with up to 25% of the overhead cost of annual budgets and the subsequent hint by the finance minister to cut down the budgetary allocation to the National Assembly.

The emotion laden Senate also summoned the special adviser to the president on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to clarify the issue about the administration of “constituency projects.”

While the officials will appear before a select committee in the Senate, the House of Representatives invited both government officials to appear before the whole House and before a live TV coverage.

Rep members argued that considering the implications of the comments attributed to Messrs Sanusi and Aganga on the image of the National Assembly, and the electoral values of members, both men should appear before the entire House on Thursday.

“These comments are lies. They owe us an explanation and most importantly, they owe the public an explanation. There is more to this than is coming to us now,” the Senate president argued.

The Senate, however, declined nudges to let the summoned government officials appear before the whole Senate, saying both government officials have lost the privilege to enter their chamber after such disparaging comments against them.

The Senate, rather, summoned both men to appear before members of the Senate committee on finance and banking, appropriation, MDGs, and the national planning committee, today.

Sanusi’s wikileaks

Some senators argued that Mr. Sanusi’s comments have incited the public against the lawmakers, and this is worse than the treason which the United States government is preparing to charge the CEO of Wikileaks, for releasing highly confidential cable communications between the US government and their envoys abroad.

Others complained the reports have caused them and their families’ psychological trauma and stigmatization.

“Let Sanusi and the finance minister appear before us so that we can dress them down,” Nuhu Aliyu (PDP, Niger State) urged his colleagues.

Others called for his sack for turning against lawmakers.

“We have treated Aganga (and Mallam Sanusi Lamido) very well in this chamber; why should they attack us?” Jubril Aminu (PDP, Adamawa State) lamented.

The senators said the comments of the government officials was an exhibition of “ignorance at high places”, arguing that the entire budget of the National Assembly for this year is N158 billion, which is “just about 3% of the total national budget.”

After an explosive recruitment interview with the Senate for his job, in which he countered some policies of the then president, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Mr. Sanusi has gained the reputation of a radical technocrat who may not be intimidated by crowd or position.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Reuben Muoka, expressed delight at the passage of the budget, which he said has been long overdue.

“This is a 2010 budget that we are talking about. We are happy that the budget has been approved so that we can get to work. It is with mixed feelings that we receive this news. Our budget ought to have been approved earlier, but it has been delayed due to unnecessary controversy. All the same, we are happy that our promise to Nigerians to do the SIM card registration can now be fulfilled,” he said.

House approves N6b for SIM card registration

Proceedings at the House of Representatives was brought to a halt yesterday when members discovered that the controversial 2010 budget of the Nigerian Communications Commission which allocates N6.1 billion for SIM card registration has been passed clandestinely. The sitting became quite rowdy and a furious Dimeji Bankole, the speaker, was seen walking out of the plenary, followed by other equally angry members.

For many months, most of the lawmakers had opposed the budget, insisting that it was a clear waste of money since the telecommunication companies were already registering their customers. Indeed, last Tuesday, 18 members made such loud protestations against the budget that debate on the matter was again shelved.

Yesterday when calm returned to the House, Mr Bankole came back to the sitting and showed support for the passage of the budget by parrying every comment against it. The budget has been stalled mainly because of the robust opposition to the inclusion of a provision for N6.1 billion for the registration of SIM cards.

This demand by the Commission had received such vehement opposition from members that the speaker had to recommit the conference report on the budget Bill to an ad hoc committee for scrutiny, and recommendation to the House.

Members had always argued that SIM card registration is the responsibility of the service providers who are already doing that free of charge for their respective subscribers.

The committee, led by West Idahosa who was recently recalled from suspension, approved the N6.1 billion for SIM cards registration on the basis that it does not contravene the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Act as charged by some members who opposed the budget.

Sneaky

Rabe Nasir, a member of the ad hoc committee, however said that the budget was surreptitiously passed by only 18 members of the House the previous Thursday.

“I am surprised to read in the votes and proceedings of Thursday November 25, 2010 that the budget has been passed without deleting the item for SIM cards registration,” Mr Nasir said.

He said he was surprised that the budget report was introduced for consideration on a supplementary order paper, and was approved when there were only 18 members left on the floor that day. He added that the approval breached his personal privilege as a member of the House, as well as a member of the ad hoc committee.

Mr Bankole, who was apparently angered by Mr Nasir’s comment, ruled him out of order, and walked out of the plenary leaving the stage for his Deputy. The members also stood, grumbling and threatening to abandon the plenary only for the speaker to reappear, blaming his walk-out on a problem with his caftan.

“This is not the first time I have handed over to the Deputy Speaker to preside,” he said, denying that he had walked out on the members most of whom were on their feet when he returned. When someone noted that he wasn’t smiling when he left, he said, “I will smile all the way as I walk out of the chambers now.”

The issue was not discussed in any detail after his return, thus confirming that the budget has been passed.

The spokesperson of the Commission, Reuben Muoka also expressed delight at the passage of the budget, saying the process was long overdue.

“This is a 2010 budget that we are talking about. We are happy that the budget has been approved so that we can get to work. It is with mixed feelings that we receive this news. Our budget ought to have been approved earlier but it has been delayed due to unnecessary controversy. All the same, we are happy that our promise to Nigerians to do the SIM card registration can now be fulfilled,” he said

Atiku is not a consensus candidate, says group

A non-governmental organisation, Media for Ethnic Equality, has described the labelling of Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and presidential aspirant, as a consensus candidate as faulty and an act of media manipulation.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday, the group said that since there was a voting, the process that led to the emergence of the former vice president as the candidate for the Adamu Ciroma led-Northern Political Leaders Forum on November 22, 2010 cannot be described as a “consensus”. “We understand that out of the nine people who constituted the committee, five voted for Atiku while four voted against him. Though he had highest vote, this cannot in any way be described as a consensus because we still have four dissenting votes,” read the statement, which was signed by the group’s Publicity Secretary, Iyiola Johnson. “It is even more dishonest to label him as a consensus candidate going by the fact that the committee could not even reach a consensus over his choice. Besides, consensus system which emanated from United Nations (UN) processes is used to completely avoid voting. Once a process is decided through voting then it is not consensus. We just think it is time we correct this misinformation making the rounds in the Nigerian media.”

Carrying everybody along

According to the group, only five ethic nationalities, representing five states of the North, selected Mr Atiku out of over 200 ethnic nationalities in the Northern part of the country. “Who represented other Northern states like Plateau, Nassarawa, Kaduna and Kogi in the Ciroma-led NPLF?,” said Mr Johnson. “If the Ciroma group is to be taken serious, they ought to have invited other ethnic nationalities to make Mr Atiku a popular choice.”

The group said it is time for Nigerian politicians to respect the rights of ethnic minorities, adding that taking decisions arbitrarily has never helped the country and the advancement of democracy. It also advised politicians to refrain from inflammatory statements capable of heating up the polity, saying that Nigerians at this time more than ever before need ethnic harmony and not divisions.