Austin Chukwukere, Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Finance, weekend unveiled plans to reconvene in the bid to fast track of the process for the passage of the N135,643,018,749 virement request initiated by the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo.
Recall that the House and its Senate counterpart had last Thursday, 27th July, 2017 embarked on six weeks annual recess, after the passage of the Fourth alteration of the 1999 Constitution.
In a related development, the House Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management chaired by Hon. Adeyinka Ajayi (APC-Osun) is to reconvene on Tuesday, 1st August, 2017 to further its engagement with State Governments on the External Loans for implemented of developmental projects.
BusinessDay gathered that six State Governors are expected to appear before the Hon. Ajayi-led Committee to defend various line items in the proposals submitted by the Acting President for consideration.
Speaking on the resolution of the Committee on Finance, Chukwukere in a chat with Legislative Correspondents in Abuja, resolved to reconvene during the recess to
“The Speaker read the letter that was transmitted by the Acting President to the House. We took note of the details of the letter and the Committee will definitely be looking into them.
“The Committee in the course of our holiday, might have to come back to look at the request. This is so that items which need to be taken care of, will be taken care of, while we will raise questions on the items we have issues with.
“For the exact dates when we will meet, it has to be agreed on between the chairman and members of the Committee. This is because we are on break and a lot of people will be attending to private issues as well as meet with their constituents.
“So, we have to talk and agree on when will be coming back together to work on the request. I am hoping this will happen soon,” Chukwukere said.
In the letter read by Speaker Yakubu Dogara, on Thursday July 21, Osinbajo, reminded lawmakers that the virement was part of the agreement reached between the Presidency and leadership of the National Assembly prior to the signing of the N7.441 trillion into law on 12th June, 2017.
“You will recall that the 2017 Appropriation Bill was signed into law on 12 June 2017. However, prior to the signing discussion and consultations were held between the executive and the leadership of the National Assembly on some critical priority items for which adequate provisions had not been made in the 2017 Appropriation Act.
“It was agreed that the Executive should submit a virement proposal to the National Assembly for consideration. The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to forward the virement proposal,” Osinbajo said in the letter.
He explained that the sum of N46,004,049,292 is to be vired in projects within the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, while N66 billion is to be vired within projects of Ministry of Transportation.
According to him, sources of the virements are N33.247 billion from Ministry of Transportation; N3,181,973,545 from Ministry of Power, Works and Housing; N14,130,719,780 from Office of the Secretary to the Government of Federation; N5 billion from Office of the National Security Adviser; N5,009,244,926 from Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and N5,494,065,749 from Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment.
The Acting President further explained that the sum of N1 billion is to be vired within projects of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; N7,698,811,674 from Federal Ministry of Interior and N80.500 million from Ministry of Trade and Investment; N3.150 billion from Ministry of Defence; N770 million from Federal Ministry of Education; N1.7 billion from Federal Capital Territory Administration and N1.3 billion from Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment.
KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja
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