allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Yar'Adua Halts Reversal of Monetisation (Page 1 of 2)

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has halted the purchase of official vehicles for ministers, having secured Federal Executive Council's (FEC's) reversal of its earlier approval for the purchase in what was seen as a reversal of the monetisation policy of the Olusegun Obasanjo administration.

Also, following the meeting on Tuesday night between President Yar'Adua and the leadership of the National Assembly, the House of Representatives yesterday confirmed that the Executive had returned N217 billion as unspent funds in 2007 and about N80 billion yielded from the 16 undisclosed accounts. Both will now be captured in the 2008 Appropriation Bill.

In a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Communications, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, yesterday, he said the decision to halt purchase of vehicles was as a result of Yar'Adua's commitment to the rule of law at all times.

His statement read: "It will be recalled that at its meeting on August 15, 2007, the Federal Executive Council approved the provision of dedicated vehicles for ministers, special advisers and permanent secretaries for the performance of their official duties.

"The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission subsequently advised President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua that the provision of the vehicles as approved would be in breach of the 'Certain Political, Public and Judicial Officers (Salaries and Allowances etc) Act. No. 6 of 2002'.

"In keeping with his avowed commitment to uphold the rule of law at all times, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua yesterday secured a vacation by the Federal Executive Council of its earlier approval for the purchase of vehicles for the aforementioned public office holders.

"Consequently, no official vehicles will be purchased and dedicated to each minister, special adviser and permanent secretary as earlier approved.

"As stipulated in the guidelines for the implementation of the Federal Government's monetisation policy, the aforementioned officials may continue to utilise pool vehicles in their respective ministries and agencies for the performance of their official duties, as the need arises.

"President Yar'Adua has communicated this decision to the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and other relevant authorities."

The Senate on December 2, 2007 queried the N1 billion budget provision for vehicles for ministers and special advisers.

The Senator Smart Adeyemi-led Senate Committee on Federal Character and Governmental Affairs had queried the proposal for the purchase of new vehicles.

Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, had defended the proposal but received the objection of Committee members led by Senator Adeyemi and Committee member, Senator Ayogu Eze.

In his defence, Kingibe had said the new vehicles were to be pooled, saying the ministers, special advisers and other top government officials would only use them and return them to the pool after each use. He denied that the purchase of the new vehicles amounted to a back-door reversal of the monetisation policy earlier introduced by the immediate past administration.

The 2008 budget continued to be on the front burner at the National Assembly yesterday as the House of Representatives confirmed that the Executive returned N217 billion as "unspent funds".

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Bayero Usman Nafada, while contributing to the Presentation of the Report on the 2008 Appropriation, also disclosed that the Executive would no longer keep any monies in any special account without the knowledge of the National Assembly.

Nafada disclosed that the $678 million discovered to be kept by the Executive as Signature Bonus would be highlighted in the budget and appropriated accordingly, while only $100 million would be set aside for the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF).

Speaker of the House, Hon. Dimeji Bankole, who was responding to the request that the Committees be given more time to capture the latest figures, said he was impressed that the Finance and Appropriation Committee were able to come up with about N300 billion as unspent funds which he said was almost the size of the budget of the country eight years ago.

Bankole said: "It is necessary we take every detail of the budget and work on it thoroughly. We have to do a thorough job so that the time we have waited pays off. We must all contribute to the report."

Chairman of the Appropriation Committee, Hon. Festus Adegoke, while presenting the report of the Budget to the House yesterday afternoon, said the lawmakers could not live up to their earlier promise of passing the Bill by Thursday December 27 owing to the new policy of FEC to stop funding all capital projects by December 31st 2007.

web allafrica.com	Enter your search terms	Submit search form
OR subscribers use AllAfrica's premium search engine


Use our pull-down menus to find more stories

Today's Most Active Stories