The year 2022 was very eventful as the leadership and members of the House worked assiduously to discharge their mandate according to their ability and conscience. At the beginning of the year, precisely the Edition of 16th January 2022, I challenged the House, particularly the speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila to ensure that reports of critical probes carried out by the House were released.
Just in a couple of months, the life of the 9th House will elapse and Gbajabiamila as well as other principal actors will afterwards struggle to justify what should have been done right. My charge to the House, again, is that reports of these probes should be presented before the House, debated, decided upon and made public in the interest of Nigerians on whose mandate they are sitting in the exalted Green Chamber.
I had in the past reminded Speaker Gbajabiamila that beyond several political interests and considerations the House is accountable to Nigerians and he, Gbajabiamila will answer his father’s name when the chips are down. He should also note that the public is not interested in political undercurrents, hence the need to ensure that every probe embarked upon should be concluded and discharged fairly.
Below is a quick reminder of some of the many probes which were either manipulated or abandoned by the 9th House.
The Arms Purchase Probe
The House in February 2021 set up an inquiry into the quality and quantity of arms and ammunition purchased for security agencies in the country in the last 10 years.
The Chairman of the Committee, Hon Olaide Akinremi (Jagaban) from Ibadan North federal constituency of Oyo State, claimed that “Nigeria spent an estimated sum of $47.387 million in arms importation by 2019”.
The ad-hoc committee in one of its meetings told the late Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru to go back and prepare a comprehensive position for presentation to it, while also asking the Inspector General of Police to do the same and report back to the Committee.
But the late Attahiru had told the committee to direct its enquiry at his predecessors, as he was not in office at the time the funds for arms were disbursed. Even before his untimely death, that was the end of the probe.
Surprisingly, while the probe was ongoing, Gbajabimila announced the dissolution of all as-hoc committees and the fate of the arms probe report remains uncertain.
The $500m Chinese Loan
In May 2020, the House Committee on Treaties and Protocols launched an investigation into the $500 million loan from the Chinese government. The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, subsequently appealed to the National Assembly to halt its probe.
Amaechi during an investigative hearing by the Committee said the investigation being carried out by the National Assembly could frustrate the loan agreement between Nigeria and China on the Port Harcourt to Maiduguri rail project.
“We have the approval to construct the Lagos-Ibadan, Lagos-Kano and Lagos-Calabar rail lines. We are also at the point of negotiating for the loans. Summoning us to the National Assembly to come and address the loans would look like the government is no longer interested in the loan,” the minister had said.
The report of the probe, if any, is also being awaited.
NDDC Probe
Also in 2020, the House probed the alleged misuse of N81bn by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The probe, however, took a dramatic twist when the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, accused members of the National Assembly of being the most beneficiaries of the contracts from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). He also fingered the chairman of the committee.
While responding to questions at the investigative hearing, Akpabio said, “The NDDC plays a vital role in ensuring the peace and security of the region and 90 per cent or more of the resources of the country comes from there. If you closed it down in totality all you will have is chaos. You will have a lot of, not just militancy, you will have a lot of insurrection.
“So it is important that people, who have gone to court, people who genuinely did jobs should be paid for their jobs. For me, I am not against it because, of course, who are even the greatest beneficiaries? It is you, people.”
When a female lawmaker interrupted his presentation and asked what benefits the lawmakers get from the contracts, the minister said, “I just told you that we have records to show that most of the contracts in the NDDC are given out to members of the National Assembly.”
Earlier, then acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Kemebradikumo Pondei collapsed while being grilled by the lawmakers. This forced the committee to suspend the probe. Eventually, the probe was concluded and report submitted. However, one year after the report was submitted, it is yet to be considered.
Probe Of Adulterated Fuel Importation
Following the havoc caused by the adulterated fuel in circulation, the House In February 2022, through a motion by the Chief Whip, Hon. Mohammed Mongunu directed its Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) to ascertain the details of purchases of petroleum products made between January and February to ascertain whether they met international standards.
The Committee was also meant to investigate the roles played by the NNPC limited, Standard Organisation of Nigeria, the Navy and all other regulatory agencies in the petroleum sector in the supply of the deadly product.
When the committee’s report was presented in March, lawmakers resolved to step it down for falling short of the expectations of Nigerians and demanded further investigation.
Deputy Speaker, Hon Idris Wase who presided over the consideration in his ruling, directed the Committee to go back and conduct further investigation and come back with recommendations that will be satisfactory to Nigerians.
“When this motion was considered, I was the one presiding, it’s only fair we reflect the truth. Go and do an in-depth investigation and come back with a recommendation Nigerians will be happy with. The report should be stepped down. They should go back and redo the work and come back with better recommendations,” Wase said.
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