By Gift Chapi Odekina
The House of Representatives has commenced investigations into repeatationo of capital projects executed and funds every year in the Appropriation Act by Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) since 2015. This was as the Speaker, Rep Femi Gbajabiamila, who flagged off the maiden hearing of the ad-hoc committee to carry out the investigation on Tuesday, berated MDAs for failing to turn up for the probe.
He said, “Permit me to also on behalf of the leadership of the House observe that a committee of this nature which has every mandate of the institution of the legislature to carry out this function and bordering on a very critical and important subject which also has a lot to do with corruption, transparency, public finances, I am compelled to say that I am concerned by the very low turn out of heads of public agencies and MDAs.
The legislature under the leadership of Rt Hon Femi Gbajabiamila is also one institution that does not tolerate corruption. Zero corruption is our expectation in government agencies and MDAs,” he said. Chairman of the ad-hoc committee, Rep Abubakar Makki Yalleman, said the committee was was established by the House resolution 118/12/2020 to verify and provide detailed reports of all projects executed and repeated in the budget from 2015 till date.
He appealed for the cooperation of all relevant stakeholders to achieve the objective. “The task before this ad-hoc committee is huge and important because appropriation related matters remain the only tool that the government utilizes and translates policies, projects and programmes into reality that is to impact the lives of the entire citizenry,” he said.
