News

Reps Committee Summon Permanent Secretary Ministry Of Agriculture And Rural Development

Published

5 months ago

May 19, 2024

Gloria Ikibah

….accuse accuse him of frustrating their efforts

By Gloria Ikibah

The House of Representatives has threatened to invoke the provision of the 1999 Constitution as amended to compel the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Temitope Fashedemi to appear before it.

Chairman, House Committee on Rural Development, Rep. Marcus Onubun, gave the threat at the meeting between the committee and Ministry.

Onubun expressed displeasure that the Permanent Secretary has consistently ignored the invitation from the committee and has failed to appear before the committee to answer questions on the activities of the rural development section of the Ministry.

Members of the Committee also frowned at the attitude of the Permanent Secretary and the Ministry, accusing them of undermining the House and provisions of the Constitution which empower the House to oversight all agencies of government.

Onubun however, said the Committee has decided to give the Permanent Secretary another opportunity to appear before it as a mark of respect for the two ministers in the Ministry who are products of the National Assembly.

Naijablitznews.com reports that the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari from Borno state and Minister of State, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi from Niger state served in the 9th National Assembly.

He said: “This is about the fifth meeting we have had in this committee on Rural development and the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has refused to appear.

“I would like to correct one notion because the Director said he is not here to answer query. This Committee is constitutional bound to query every of your activities in terms of projects and policies of your ministry. If you don’t know, you must understand now that it is our responsibility.

“Members seating here represents over 200 million Nigerians. We put all our activities aside to have on the spot assessment of the ministry and we came to you because we wanted to work with you so that Nigerians will get the dividends of democracy through rural development. The Permanent Secretary was not at that meeting.

“But it appears that for some reasons best known to you, you have chosen to frustrate the efforts of this committee. We have the mandate of the House through the Speaker to carry out the exercise we are carrying out.

“I will yeild to the request of my colleagues that since we have two Ministers who are products of this National Assembly, we may not use the big stick at this point. We will course another invitation, attentioning the minister to release the Permanent Secretary to appear on our next scheduled date.

“If the Permanent Secretary likes, he should chose to ignore that invitation. Then we will know who is dancing behind who at the end of the day. The Permanent Secretary should appear before this committee on Tuesday, May 21.”

Earlier, a, member of the committee, Rep. Chinedu Ogah, recalled how members abandoned their work to visit the ministry.

He said: “On that day, the perm sec was not there. It was you and the Director of Finance. The Director of Finance was not part of it, but he saw a call of the National Assembly, he decided to be part of it (the meeting).

“You know we are elected by the people and we speak for the people. Within your conscience, is what your agency doing part of the law, or out of the law, when you know we are empowered by the Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria to oversight this agency, or you are neglecting the House?”

Committee members became furious, when a Director in the Ministry, Engr, Frank Satumari Kudla, the representative of the Permanent Secretary claimed that he was not in attendance at the meeting to answer queries, but on the instruction of the Permanent Secretary, so that it does not appear seems like they were snubbing the committee.

Engr. Kudla told the committee that the Permanent Secretary was attending an official function at a place he did not disclose to the committee.

“I am telling you on my own honour, this is what happened. Actually, if the Perm Sec could have been here, he is in the best position to answer questions on behalf of the Ministry”, he said.

The Director said he was not in the best position to answer questions.

“Our coming is not to query the position. You are calling the Permanent Secretary because the last time I was here, we discussed this. The perm sec is not deliberately dodging to come to see you”.

News

Biden phones Tinubu over Binance executive, other issues

Published

15 mins ago

October 30, 2024

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

President Bola Tinubu has received a call from President Joe Biden of the United States of America.

The phone discussion which took place at about 4pm, Nigerian time, on Tuesday, lasted for about 30 minutes.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, while briefing state House Correspondents about the development.

The discussion centered about the recent release of the Head of Finance Crime compliance at Binance, Tigran Gambaryan.

Tuggar said, “The call was about the collaboration between the two countries with regards to law enforcement and law enforcement agencies as well as the release of one of the suspects of the crypto currency exchange company that you are all aware of.

“Mr President also thanked the US for the partnership and collaboration in numerous areas with regards to security in Africa and West Africa as as whole. President Biden assured President Tinubu that this is a partnership because the future of the world reside in Africa and as such, the partnership is important.

“The leaders also discussed the issue of permanent seat in the United Nations security Council and Biden assured the the united States is committed to seeing Africa having a permanent seat and does not see why one of those seats should belong to Nigeria.”

News

APC mourns as Deputy Director dies at 48

Published

20 mins ago

October 30, 2024

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Deputy Director in the Organization Department of the All Progressives Congress (APC), National Secretariat, Isaiah Edegbo, is dead.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, confirmed the demise of the senior staff member at its National Secretariat in a statement on Tuesday,

Morka stated that Edegbo, who hails from Kogi State, passed away at age 48 on Monday, October 28, in Abuja.

The APC chieftain said the deceased will be greatly missed.

The statement added, “He attended Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, where he earned a Diploma in Civil Law (1997), an LL.B (Hons) in 2003, an LL.M in Public Law in 2016, and was in the process of completing his PhD in Commercial Law.

“Despite being a trained lawyer, Isaiah Edegbo was known for his brilliance, thoroughness, and reliability, contributing significantly to the Party’s successful congresses, conventions, and election activities”.

News

Senate approves N24bn refund to Kebbi, Nasarawa for federal airport projects

Published

24 mins ago

October 30, 2024

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

The Senate has approved a request by President Bola Tinubu to refund a total of N24bn to Kebbi and Nasarawa states for executing airport projects on behalf of the federal government.

The approval was sequel to the presentation of a report by the Chairman on local and foreign debts, Senator Manu Haruna.

Tinubu had asked the Red Chamber to approve N15bn for Kebbi and N9bn for Nasarawa in May 2024.

At the time, the president said aviation, including airports, safety of aircraft and carriage of passengers and goods by air are managed by the federal government in line with the second schedule of the constitution.

There was no objection to the president’s request.

Supporting the committee chairman, Senator Aminu Abbas, said the request should be approved because of how important the infrastructure is to development and insecurity.

“Airport is very important when it comes to development and insecurity,” he said.

Also speaking, Isah Jibrin (APC, Kogi East), said his state recently got approval from the federal government to construct an airport.

“As soon as the project the completed, we will come here for a refund through promissory notes,” Jibrin said.

The request was approved after it was put to a voice vote by the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin who presided over the plenary.