Abuja – The House of Representatives, on Wednesday mandated its Speaker, Mr Yakubu Dogara, to interface with the Presidency over the controversy surrounding the 2016 Appropriation Bill.
This is sequel to allegation and counter allegation between the executive and the legislature over the N60 billion Lagos-Calabar rail project said to have been removed from the budget.
The latest position of the lower chamber on the budget face-off emanated from an executive session held on Wednesday before commencement of plenary.
Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Rep. Abdulrazak Namdas told newsmen that the house took the position after it was briefed by his counterpart of Committee on Appropriation, Rep. Abdulmumin Jibrin.
According to him, Jibrin briefed the House on the controversial Lagos-Calabar rail project.
“We then mandated the speaker to engage with the executive and report back to the house if in the national interest, we can accommodate the project for the nation to move forward.
“But, we want to reiterate that the project wasn’t in the budget presented by the president.
“The project is a viable one and our concern is to remove the erroneous impression that the National Assembly removed the project from the budget in the first instance,” he said.
Namdas also emphasized that there hadn’t been any communication from the president to the national assembly about the budget.
According to him, what has transpired so far in respect of the budget has been the opinion of Nigerians as expressed in the media.
“Whatever the case, we have done our job by transmitting the budget to the president and there is nothing before us to suggest that something is wrong with the budget as passed by the national assembly.
“Everything is in the realm of speculation,” he added.
The spokesman also dismissed insinuations that the house discussed the role of the Appropriation Committee’s Chairman during the executive session.
According to him, the contentious rail project was never part of the original budget or the revised budget submitted by the president.
He maintained that the house would never accept anything from the back door as the Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, attempted to do with the Lagos-Calabar rail project.
“Any communication from the president must be read on the floor of the house and the house cannot accommodate anything from the back door.
“If we do so, the mindset of Nigerians against the national assembly will be further reinforced and we will be accused of padding the budget.
“This president decided to present the budget himself, unlike in the past when previous presidents will send their ministers to present the budget on their behalf.
“So, there is no issue of a second party bringing a budget proposal through the back door,’’ he said.
