The Public Finance and Revenue Committee at the ongoing National Conference, yesterday, summoned the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, top management staff of the ministry and the Acting Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Dr. Sarah Alade, and her team to appear before it today and Friday.
The committee also expect all ministers, heads of agencies, institutions and parastatals appearing before it to explain how activities at their ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, were being carried out.
Similarly, the Committee on Energy, led by Senator Rashid Ladoja, is to summon the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, top management of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, operators in the oil and gas sector to come up with documents and policies that would, among others, help the committee to effectively carry out its assignment.
Also to appear before the Committee on Public Finance and Revenue between today and Friday are the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service, Chairmen, Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, and the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC.
Others include top management staff of Debt Management Office, DMO; National Planning Commission, National Lottery Commission; Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI; Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA; Nigerian Shippers Council and other agencies involved in revenue generation.
The delegates will probe the effectiveness, efficiency and their relevance of the MDAs, with a view to proffering solutions to the myriad of problems affecting them in order to block all loopholes and wastage.
Collating the views of members, the Chairman and former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, Senator Adamu Aliero, explained that the committee’s secretariat would serve them notices of summon to enable them appear today.
According to the work schedule, each of the MDAs is allocated only one hour to make its presentation, in view of the tight schedule of the committees.
During the deliberations, the committee rejected suggestions that questionnaires be sent to the MDAs on the ground that the information that may be returned to them might not tally with the true picture on ground.
The committee members also complained about the short period allocated to them to conclude the assignment.
In his explanation, a member of the committee and a delegate representing the South-South geo- political zone of the country, Chief Sergeant Awuse, who noted that the committees were set up to enable members have direct interaction with the technocrats, however, advised committee members to be cautious of information posted on websites by MDAs.
According to Awuse, in view of time constraint and heavy workload, committee members should make sacrifices and work extra time, including working weekends, to enable them do a thorough job.
In his contribution, a member of the committee and a delegate representing Bayelsa State, Chief Francis Doukpolagha, said it was impossible for any committee to do a thorough and holistic job in less than a week, but appealed to the committee chairman, Aliero, to liaise with the leadership of the conference for possible time extension.
In his response, Aliero said the work plan was presented and approved by all the delegates at the plenary, adding that his committee did not have powers to alter the work plan.
In a related development, the Committee on Land Tenure, National Boundaries, also resolved to summon the former Director-General, National Boundary Commission, NBC, Alhaji Dahiru Bobo, to furnish it with very important information on the nation’s boundaries, in order to address the problem of porous boundaries.
Chairman of the committee, Abdullahi Mamman, who noted that a member of the committee and the Lamido of Adamawa, Dr. Muhammadu Mustapha, had agreed to speak with Bobo on the need for him to appear and furnish the committee with verbal information, said the committee would also write the present Director-General, Dr. Muhammed Ahmed, for members to share from their wealth of experiences on the nation’s borders.
Mamman said the committee, which put up sub-committees on traditional rulers to enable it brief the Land Reform Committee on their roles before the military Land Use Act, also said that there were professionals, legal and judiciary sub-committees.
