Tuesday, March 17, 2009[b]
Senators share N352m in two days[/b]

COSMAS EKPUNOBI

The dust raised by the aborted retreat of the Joint Constitution Review Committee (JCCR) of the National Assembly is yet to settle, as fresh facts emerged yesterday on how 88 members of the review committee shared over N352million as allowances for the two-day event in Minna , Niger State capital.





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It would be recalled that the N1billion was voted by the National Assembly for the committee for last year alone.

Source alleged yesterday that the review panel may have exhausted its budget for last year on the retreat, even as there were speculations that the review exercise may have reached a dead end.

The committee also expended another N298 million on logistics, purchase of 18 refurbished Prado jeeps, and payment of allowance to some support personnel for the retreat.

Daily Champion gathered yesterday that some of the items already paid by the committee are yet to arrive the country .

The committee was said to have placed order for the purchase of some of the items late last year.

Source alleged that each of the committee members got the sum of N3 million as allowance for the two day event in Minna

Though the committee at the peak of the show down between the two chambers claimed that each member got the same amount for the retreat, but most members contacted declined to make public how much they got.

This was in addition to free hotel accommodation and feeding extended to them by the Niger State government for the two nights.

Spokesman of the Senate Senator Ayogu Eze, has however dismissed the figure as ‘mere fabrication.’

Ayogu who is also a member of the review committee in a telephone interview yesterday said: "there was nothing like that."

He had earlier at a news briefing said the committee may have purchased jeeps for use in some difficult terrain in the course of the review exercise.

There are however pressure on some of the members of the House of Representatives in the panel who boycotted the retreat to refund the said allowance to the National Assembly.

The 44 members of the House had last month, a boycotted the two day retreat in Minna, demanding equal partnership with the senate in the review

This was after most of them were said to have collected their allowance for the event.

The retreat was to enable the committee work out modalities for the review.

Some alleged that some of the House members decided to participate in the retreat only to partake in the N1billion already voted for the review exercise for last year

There calculation was that such fund would be returned to the government coffers in line with new government directive that all public fund not used before 31 December every year should be returned.

http://odili.net/news/source/2009/mar/17/802.html

We need to rebrand these senators. Ok let's rebrand them like this:

Nigeria: Good senators, great nation!

politicians are all liars and criminals.

its high time we started killing these dumbmotherfuking horse shit assholes senators in this contry else, things will neva get berra.

tpacalipse:

its high time we started killing these dumbmotherfuking horse shit assholes senators in this contry else, things will neva get berra.

I'm really thinking about what you're yarning.

yeah that's a very good idea there