The House of Representatives has accepted the challenge by a former Minister  of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, to conduct a public hearing on its alleged scandalous N1 trillion wage bill since 2005.

A spokesperson for the House said in a statement on Thursday that the National Assembly “wholeheartedly” welcomed Mrs. Ezekwesili’s request because of its belief in transparency in governance.

A statement by Rep Victor Afam-Ogene, Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Public Affairs, however said the former minister should prepare to explain her understanding of cost of governance and provide reasons for narrowing the concept to the National Assembly, leaving out the Executive.

The  statement reads, “Nigerians would remember that in the course of a similar misadventure  in January 2013, Mrs. Ezekwesili had made wild claims bordering on the alleged frittering of $45bn  of the country’s external reserves, and $22bn  in the excess crude account.

“While she has yet to fully justify those allegations, the former minister is this time seeking a fresh sparring partner in the Legislature.

“If it were not so, why would an address which centered on a “Cost of Governance in NIgeria” be curiously limited to an inquest into the operations of the National Assembly, leaving out the other two arms  of government (the Executive and Judiciary) and arriving at the rather simplistic suggestion of the introduction of a unicameral or part-time legislature as the panacea  for  all Nigeria’s problems?

“Since it is public knowledge that whosoever wishes to go to equity ought to do so with clean hands, we restate our earlier posers which Mrs. Ezekwesili conveniently glossed over in her latest statement on this issue, to wit: What is the percentage of the National Assembly’s N150bn  allocation in a budget of N4.9tr?

“Is it right to insinuate that the budgetary allocation for the National Assembly is for ‘members salaries and allowances’, while deliberately leaving out capital projects component, salaries of  legislative aides and the bureaucracy, as well as allied institutions such as  the Institute for Legislative Studies?

“What is the total disbursement to the Executive and the Judicial arms of government over the same eight-year period?

“For an ex-official of government, who between the 2006 and 2007 federal budgets, superintended over a total of N422.5bn as Education Minister, what percentage of the public fund was expended by her as recurrent cost?”

Mrs Ezekwesili, had on Wednesday challenged the federal lawmakers to a public hearing, where she indicated she would defend her call for the scrapping of an arm of the National Assembly which, as presently structured, has gulped over N1 trillion in federal budget since 2005.

Mrs. Ezekwesili’s earlier call on Monday had stirred a fresh debate about government spending on salaries.

Speaking at an event hosted by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre  that day, Mrs. Ezekwesili said Nigeria’s 469-member National Assembly, comprising a Senate and a House of Representatives, had gulped N1 trillion since 2005.

She criticized the lawmakers’ huge wage bill as well as Nigeria’s budgets that have given more money to recurrent expenditure, and called for a single arm of the legislature.

As expected, the comments sparked angry reactions from lawmakers on Tuesday, who asked the minister to also shed light on how much she spent or drew first as a minister of solid minerals, and later as minister of education.

Mrs. Ezekwesili was first appointed a minister of solid minerals in 2005, under former President Olusegun Obasanjo. She was later moved to the education ministry.

“She was part of several reform committees that ended up being reformed themselves. In view of this, the best way to go to equity is to go with clean hands,” a spokesperson for the House of Representatives, Victor Ogene, said.

“It would, however, suffice for Ezekwesili to tell us what recurrent expenditure was during her tenure and what it cost Nigerian taxpayers to maintain her and her aides for a year....... .......see the former minister's full statement here »»»
http://sapostiks..com/2013/08/controversial-n1-trillion-wage-bill.html

Can't you feel the rush?? The consensual invitation to a pre-planned contest?? The clamour to make it all disappear??
This government must be mistaking us all for puppets. We've seen really strong cases dissolving into nothingness under our very noses, how much more, this aged allegation? Alter the records; Make her appear inconsistent; What else?? Celebrate a precognized victory