Politics
Senate may probe bailout funds
Baring any last minute change of plans, the Senate will next Tuesday, commence an investigation into how Paris Club refunds and other bail out funds given to state governors by President Muhammadu Buhari, were approved.
Senator Samuel Anyanwu from Imo State, in a motion of national importance yesterday, queried the legality of the funds given to governors by President Buhari. He also sought to know who gave the approval, since the National Assembly was not consulted before the disbursement.
“I am worried about the Paris club refunds. Governors are asking for more funds. Where is this money from? The Senate has not given any approval. Who gives the approval and where is the money for.
“I heard the President scolding them. The President was asking them how they sleep at night even when they do not pay salaries. They have received billions of naira. I feel worried. Even the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has told the President to stop giving bail out funds to governors.
Read also: Senate panel orders immediate re-opening of Patience Jonathan’s accounts
“If you look at front pages of paper, you will see the issue there. This is the problem. If my colleagues will allow me, I want to bring this as a motion at our next legislative day. I so submit,” Anyanwu said.
President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, while speaking on the motion, sought the leave of his colleagues to approve that a proper motion be brought to the floor at another legislative day.
“Senator Samuel Anyanwu has spoken. If it is the will of colleagues that this motion be brought at another legislative day, then Senator Anyanwu can sponsor a proper motion,” Saraki said.
The next legislative day is next Tuesday, 24th of October, 2017. Since no further comments were permitted by Saraki, lawmakers thereafter agreed that Anyanwu should present a proper motion at another next week.
President Buhari, in 2015, few weeks after he assumed office, approved bailout funds to states to settle salary arrears, without any recourse to the National Assembly, as prescribed by the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears
Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
SPECIAL REPORT: Torturous experiences of students with disabilities in Oyo tertiary institutions
For students with disabilities in Oyo state-owned tertiary institutions, learning is a torturous and distressing experience, considering the building structures...