Reps
House of Representatives’ investigation into the performance of the capital component of 2015 budget could not take off again for the second time in a week.
The absence of the Federal Ministry of Finance’s Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Anastasia Mabi Daniel-Nwaobia at the public hearing halted proceedings at the hearing despite the presence of seven agencies of government invited for the hearing.
The committee will begin the investigation next Tuesday after being informed that the Permanent Secretary will still not be available throughout this week. The decision to go on with the hearing on Tuesday followed the intervention of President Mohammadu Buhari’s National Assembly liason officers, Senator Eta Inang and Suleiman Kawu.
They said the permanent secretary would be on official duty outside the country throughout the week.
The committee summoned the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.
The agencies that appeared before the committee yesterday included the Budget Office of the Federation, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the Fiscal Responsibility Commission among others.
The committee refused to allow the representative of for Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Aliyu Gusau who is the director general Budget Office to make any presentation on behalf of the Finance Ministry.
Members of the committee, who were unanimous in their decision to postpone the hearing, took turn to explain the implication of the absence of the Permanent Secretary at the hearing.
The Chairman of the Committee, Pategi, said his panel would not compromise the transparency mantra of the current administration.
“We need to know the budget performance, do we have difficulties implementing it, is the nation broke, there are lots more to know.
“For instance, we are concerned that Zenith bank is laying off about 1000 workers and that’s part of the reasons the House is worried about the capital expenditure of the budget because of it’s implications on Nigerians”.
Nicholas Ossai noted that the Permanent Secretary may not be aware of the enormity of the hearing by sending a representative after failing to appear before the committee a week earlier.
THE NATION