APC Govs, Ministers Funding Protests Against NASS — Saraki
APC Govs, Ministers Funding Protests Against NASS — Saraki
.Asks Buhari To Call Them To Order
.Protesters Demand Resignation Of Saraki, Dogara
Abuja – Senate
President Bukola Saraki has accused governors on the platform of the
ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), as well as ministers in
President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration of sponsoring protests
against the National Assembly.
Saraki stated this while reacting to
calls by some protesters who stormed the National Assembly complex on
Tuesday demanding that he (Saraki), and House Speaker, Yakubu Dogara,
resign for allegedly padding budgets in the name of constituency
projects that cannot be verified anywhere in their various
constituencies.
Embittered by the assertions, Saraki
said, “I think it is important that we continue to educate the public on
the importance of these constituency projects and also correct any
misinformation – that is going into the hands of lawmakers but instead
these are projects facilitated to ensure that there is a federal
presence in every part of the country.
“Before now there was no measure to
ensure equitable representation of such projects in this country. The
projects enable unity, equity and justice because if you have a
constituency that you cannot find Federal Government projects then there
is injustice.
“Without it, you will find out that only
heads of agencies put projects in their own areas – how can you justify
constituencies without projects?” Saraki queried.
Therefore, those who allowed themselves
to be used to protest against what he insisted benefit them, the Senate
president has words for them and their alleged sponsors.
“For Nigerians being used – people are
taking advantage of the poverty in the country and what is saddening
about it is that those who are doing this are those who are part of
government.
“This does not help the unity of the arms
of government. Mr. President needs to investigate this and call to
order – there is no secret in this, if you go out there those boys will
tell you where they are collecting the money from, the minister is
giving them the money, the governor that is giving them the money and
these are governors, ministers in the same ruling party.
“So, I really don’t understand how this
will promote unity with these kind of things. There is need for these
kind of activities to stop. If they keep weakening this institution, it
will hurt us down the line when we need it.
“Those showing rascality,
irresponsibility should be called to order because they are taking
advantage of these young ones. If there is something wrong with the
implementation, it is the executive, we don’t award the contract, we
don’t release the money. Those behind the protest should desist, we know
who you are, it is not in the interest of the unity of this country”,
he said.
In his own remarks, Saraki’s deputy, Ike
Ekweremadu, said what happened on Tuesday was another attempt by some
group of people to set Nigerians against the National Assembly.
Ekweremadu noted that before constituency
projects, it was very difficult for any member of the National Assembly
to point to one project that he or she attracted to his or her
constituency.
“Anyone inciting Nigerians against this
budget is an enemy of Nigeria and the unfortunate thing is that the same
Nigerians that are being paid one or two thousand naira to protest are
the same ones who make use of those boreholes but unfortunately they
don’t know. Ignorance is the problem of the people that are being used”,
he said.
Other lawmakers who spoke urged the
executive arm to come clean by telling Nigerians that the National
Assembly has no business in the award, payment and execution of
constituency project contracts as erroneously thought by the public.
Protesters Storm N/Assembly, Demand Resignation Saraki, Dogara
Earlier, hundreds of protesters, under
the aegis of National Convener of Citizens’ Action to Take Back Nigeria
(CATBAN), called on Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker, House of
Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, to step down.
The protesters, who arrived in 11 luxury
busses, popularly known as ‘El-Rufai bus, stormed the National Assembly
complex in various vehicles, and were seen displaying banners, calling
for scrapping of constituency projects.
They carried placards which read,
‘Constituency project is now corruption, it must stop’; ‘Nigerians are
not represented in the sharing of the loot via constituency projects’;
‘National Assembly not for armed runners’, among others.
Security personnel shut the main gate to
the complex to prevent the protesters from entering the premises while
the protesters tried to force their way in.
As a result, visitors and workers were denied entry through the gate and they had to seek alternative routes.
Ibrahim Garba Wala, National Convener of
the group, while addressing newsmen, accused the lawmakers of using
constituency projects to siphon funds meant for Nigerians.
Wala said concerns raised by President
Muhammadu Buhari while signing the 2018 budget showed that the National
Assembly was “stealing the common patrimony of the people through
constituency projects.”
According to him, the concerns are
indications that Saraki and Dogara lacked credibility and moral
capacity, as such should resign.
“The president told Nigerians that our
federal legislators connived among themselves and removed priority
developmental projects carefully prepared by the Federal Government to
impact on the lives of the citizenry.
“The National Assembly made cut of N347
billion in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for
consideration and introduced 6, 403 private projects of their own
amounting to N578 billion.
“As a civil society organisation, we feel
pained that this year’s budget followed the regular path of stealing in
the guise of bogus constituency projects.
“In spite of the wishy-washy response of
the National Assembly justifying its distortion of the 2018 budget,
there is ample evidence to show that they shortchanged their
constituents who elected them to make laws for the good governance of
the country,” he said.
He expressed concern that, “with an
additional sum of N170 billion for constituency projects, together with
the sum of N100 billion already provided for in the budget, the National
Assembly still went ahead to cut allocations to important national
projects.
“The cut was aimed at distorting the budget in order to further increase their allocation for constituency projects.
“This to us is a grave offence against the sensibilities of Nigerians.”
The convener said, “This is one big
scandal that brings to light how the nation’s annual budgets have been
padded over the years to the disadvantage of 180 million Nigerians.”
He called on the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other
related offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the matter.
He stressed that it was necessary for such action to be taken to save the National Assembly from public ridicule.
The protest turned rowdy when protesters
became impatient following concerns that the leadership of the National
Assembly did not deem it fit to address them.
Some of the protesters were seen trying
to climb the main gate, while others were seen shaking the gate
vigorously to force their way into the premises.
They were, however, stopped when police officers manning the gate, released teargas into the air.
The president had while signing the 2018
budget said “the logic behind the constitutional directive that budgets
should be proposed by the executive is that it is the executive that
knows and defines its policies and projects.
“Unfortunately, that has not been given much regard in what has been sent to me.
“The National Assembly made cuts
amounting to N347 billion in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted
to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own
amounting to N578 billion.
“Many of the projects cut are critical and may be difficult, if not impossible, to implement with the reduced allocation.
“Some of the new projects inserted by the
National Assembly have not been properly conceptualised, designed and
cost ascertained and will therefore, be difficult to execute.
“Furthermore, many of these new projects
introduced by the National Assembly have been added to budgets of most
MDAs with no consideration for institutional capacity to execute them or
the incremental recurrent expenditure that may be required.”
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