NASS Unworthy of Nigerians Trust -South South APC
NASS Unworthy of Nigerians Trust -South South APC
By Chris. Suleiman, Abuja
The South South zone of the All Prgressives Congress has described the National Assembly as unworthy of the trust and confidence of Nigerians following the alleged arbitrary removal of the Lagos – Calabar rail track by the National Assembly from the 2016 budget.
This was contained in a Press Statement signed by the party’s National Vice Chairman South-South, Prince Hilliard Eta and made available to the media on Sunday.
The statement which read thus: “We are very upset that our representatives at the National Assembly would discard decorum and hinder progressive change by acting at variance with the infrastructure development agenda of the APC led federal government. The arbitrary removal of the Lagos – Calabar rail track by the National Assembly from the 2016 budget is a display of depraved indifference to the welfare of Nigerians. The deletion is not just arbitrary; it is a big disservice to the people of Nigeria, particularly the South South zone which the proposed railway track would have traversed.
It stated further that “The National Assembly exists to ensure that Nigerians get the best from their government using the instrument of purposeful legislation but the 8th Assembly by this budget padding debacle has not only brought itself to ridicule, it has also proved itself unworthy of the trust and confidence of Nigerians.
The statement also frown at the National Assembly for tempering with the fund allotted to the total rehabilitation of the collapsed and terrible Calabar – Odukpani –Itu – Ikot Ekpene federal highway which was allotted six billion naira by the federal government in the budget, but was doctored and almost five billion naira removed and reallocated to a non-existent project in the constituency of the Chairman of the House of Representatives Appropriation Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin, in Kano state.
“The National Assembly exists to ensure that Nigerians get the best from their government using the instrument of purposeful legislation but the 8th Assembly by this budget padding debacle has not only brought itself to ridicule, it has also proved itself unworthy of the trust and confidence of Nigerians.
“As a Party in the South South zone, we make public our disenchantment with the National Assembly and we are particularly disappointed by the Chairman of the Senate Appropriation Committee, Senator Danjuma Goje and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Honourable Abdulmumin Jibrin who directly supervised and even actively abetted such debauchery.
Ita demanded that a re-examination of the powers f the legislature be conducted to establish it has the pwer doctor and alter projects or totally remove them from the budget even after the Minister under which the project is has defended the budget t have justified its inclusion.
“The South South zone of the All Progressives Congress demands that the budget be reverted to its original form and all the development projects conceived and included in the budget by the federal government be retained without alteration. We also advise the legislature to refrain from giving the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari a bad image by attempting to deprive Nigerians of the dividends of democracy under any guise.
