Piqued by the revelation that the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Deizani Alison-Madueke may have spent a whopping N10 billion as expenses on chartered airplane, the House of Representatives on Thursday mandated its Committee on Public Accounts to conduct a thorough investigate into the allegation. The committee has three weeks to submit its report.
Sequel to a motion by Samuel Adejare (APC- Lagos), the House unanimously passed the resolution to investigate the matter when put to vote by Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, who also did not give room for debate on the matter insisting it was against the spirit of fair-hearing.
The Minister was alleged to have spent N10 billion on the arbitrary charter and maintenance of a Challenger 850 airplane for unofficial use.
According to Adejare, Mrs Alison-Madueke allegedly spent N3.120 billion” into the maintenance of the plane dedicated to serve herself and immediate family, saying he has evidence to back up his claim.
Another 500,000 Euros (N130 million) is being expended monthly to maintain the plane, the representative noted..
Adejare also told his colleagues that the recent fuel scarcity was as a result of dwindling revenue to the national coffers, saying it has “reduced the quality of governance and deprived the people of dividends of democracy”.
He expressed “concerned that an official of government could be bankrolling this waste in the face of ever dwindling public resources”.
According to him, the Minister’s action was tantamount “to a misplacement of priority, impudence and breach of public trust” and contravenes the Fiscal Responsibility Act “and all other laws on fiscal discipline”.
While calling for investigation, he cited Section 82 (2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution which empowers the National Assembly to expose corruption.
The section, he noted also empowers the National Assembly to expose inefficiency or waste in the execution or administration of laws within its legislative competence, as well as check the disbursement or administration of funds appropriated by it.
