SGF, Senate Rift Worsens as Lawal Fails to Appear for Budget Defence

The stand-off between the Senate and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF), Babachir Lawal, resurfaced yesterday as the SGF failed to appear before the Committee on Federal Character to defend the 2017 budget proposal from his office.

At a time, heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) make it a priority to appear before relevant committees to defend the budgets of their agencies, Lawal opted to send the Permanent Secretary, General Services in the Office of the SGF, Mohammed Bukar, to do the defence on behalf of the office.

But irked by the development, the committee chaired by Senator Tijjani Kaura disallowed the permanent secretary from making any submission before it, insisting that Lawal must appear before it to do the defence or forget it.

It was however, learnt yesterday that some minutes before 10a.m. when the defence was scheduled to take off, the permanent secretary on behalf of the the SGF informed the committee that he (SGF) would not be available for the exercise. Bukar was said to have told the committee that the SGF was away, attending the funeral of a relative outside Abuja.

While turning away the permanent secretary from representing the SGF, the committee asked the SGF to communicate a new date when he will personally appear before for the defence. The committee later briefed the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, about the development.

Thisday, February 3, 2017

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