Reps carpet perm sec over poor budget presentation March 4, 2014 by John Ameh, Abuja 1 Comment [print] Members of the House of Representatives Committee on Environment thoroughly tongue-lashed the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Mr. Taye Haruna, on Tuesday. The committee passed a vote of no confidence in him, describing the permanent secretary as “not qualified to hold a public office.” Haruna incurred the wrath of the committee, which is chaired by Mrs. Uche Ekwunife, for allegedly presenting the 2014 budget estimates of the ministry in a “shabby” manner. Some members asked how he managed to become a permanent secretary when he could not prepare and present the ministry’s budget in way that anybody could read and easily understand. Haruna had circulated the budget documents to members to study and make observations. However, after going through the copies for a few minutes, the lawmakers started berating him over “shabby presentation.” Ekwunife was the first to complain over the content of the documents, as he asked Haruna if he thought the committee invited him to come and behave in a comical manner. She stated, “We are not here for a joke. This is a very serious affair. “We are talking about a very serious ministry, and we are having these scattered documents? “For goodness sake, what is this? Taye is not the only permanent secretary in the Federation.” One member from Adamawa State, Mr. Titsi Ganama, who expressed doubts whether Haruna went to school, asked the perm sec to read out his academic qualifications. Looking worried, Haruna informed the surprised lawmaker that he was a “first class citizen” of Nigeria. He spoke further, ”I am a first class citizen of this country and a chartered accountant of 27 years. I left the university over 30 years ago. “I have had a lot of experience; so I have the capacity to be where I am today.” His response earned him more scolding from a member from Rivers State, Mr. Sekonte Davies, who wondered how an accountant could not present financial documents to a committee. Davies noted, “You have not shown any confidence of a perm sec, because there is nothing in this document. “In my opinion, we should allow the minister to make his brief on the 2014 budget and set up a committee to investigate this man.” Another member from Enugu State, Mr. Pat Asadu, observed that he had always known Haruna not to be serous with the committee. Asadu added, “The ministry is embedded in corruption, and I didn’t expect anything more than this. ” I believe this document is to hide the level of corruption in the ministry. I suggest we sit down and investigate contracts awarding processes in the ministry and the allegations against the perm sec and other directors.” The committee later resolved to investigate the perm sec for alleged corrupt practices? Ekwunife ruled, “There are certain things we can’t sweep under the carpet. “Your perm sec is under investigation for all the allegations made against him. Clerk, write to Mr. President and Head of Service that Taye is under investigation.” Meanwhile, the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Akinwumi Adesina, at another budget defence meeting, complained over rising statistics on child malnutrition in the country and called for adequate attention to agriculture. He said agriculture remained the source of livelihood for over 75 per cent of poor Nigerians. Adesina told the House Committee on Agriculture that it was for this reason that government tried in the last three years to improve on the sector. He stated that the result was the cut in the cost of food importation from N2trillion in 2011 to N1.5tn in 2012. Adesina had also defended the N4.8bn budgeted for Millennium Development Goals this year. But, some lawmakers directed him to do more in the area of youth empowerment in the agricultural sector. The alleged slow pace of work on the Abuja light rail project was the focus at separate budget defence session with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Bala Mohammed. The Chairman of the FCT Committee, Mr. Emmanuel Jime, pointed out that the project was supposed to have been delivered in 2013 but observed that only 38 per cent of work had been done. He asked the minister to ensure that the project was completed by December this year. Jime said, ” I am surprised to see only paltry sum of N1bn has been allocated in 2014 appropriated for the Abuja light rail project, whereas the requirement for counterpart funding is 9bn yearly.” But, the minister blamed the delay on the explanation that the concept of the project had to be changed because of the external borrowing content of the funding by the Chinese Exim Bank.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 08:54:34 +0000
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