From Kemi Yesufu, Abuja
Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Finance, Austin Chukwukere, has disclosed that the committee will soon reconvene to deliberate on Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo’s request for the approval of a virement of N135, 643,018,749 to enable the Federal Government fund key projects.
The National Assembly commenced on annual vacation last Thursday with some experts expressing worry that lawmakers went on break without considering the virement request as scheduled for Wednesday, July 26. But Chukwukere told journalists in Abuja, at the weekend, that his committee was working on picking a time during the recess when it can meet to work on the document.
“The Speaker read the letter transmitted by the Acting President to the House. We took note of the details of the letter and the committee will definitely be looking into them.
“The committee in the course of our holiday, might have to come back to look at the request. This is so that items which need to be taken care of will be taken care of while we will raise questions on items we have issues with.
“For the exact dates when we will meet, it has to be agreed on between the chairman and members of the committee. This is because we are on break and a lot of people will be attending to private issues as well as meeting with their constituents. So, we have to talk and agree on when we will be come back together to work on the request. I am hoping this will happen soon,” Chukwukere said.
In the letter read by Speaker Yakubu Dogara, on Thursday, July 21, Osinbajo reminded lawmakers that the virement was part of the agreement reached between the Presidency and leadership of the National Assembly prior to the signing of the N7.441 trillion into law.
“You will recall that the 2017 Appropriation Bill was signed into law on June 12, 2017. However, prior to the signing, discussions and consultations were held between the executive and the leadership of the National Assembly on some critical priority items for which adequate provisions had not been made in the 2017 Appropriation Act.
“It was agreed that the Executive should submit a virement proposal to the National Assembly for consideration. The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to forward the virement proposal,” he wrote.
He explained that the sum of N46,004,049,292 is to be vired in projects within the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, while N66 billion is to be vired within projects of Ministry of Transportation.
According to him, sources of the virements are N33.247 billion from Ministry of Transportation; N3,181,973,545 from Ministry of Power, Works and Housing; N14,130,719,780 from Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation; N5 billion from Office of the National Security Adviser; N5,009,244,926 from Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and N5,494,065,749 from Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment.
The Acting President further explained that the sum of N1 billion is to be vired within projects of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; N7,698,811,674 from Federal Ministry of Interior and N80,500,000 from Ministry of Trade and Investment; N3.150 billion from Ministry of Defence; N770 million from Federal Ministry of Education; N1.7 billion from the Federal Capital Territory Administration and N1.3 billion from the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment.