Fred Itua, Abuja
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has urged the Federal Government to ensure equity and fairness in the distribution of monies and other COVID-19 stimulus package across the country.
Lawan who warned against the mismanagement of the Social Investment Programme (SIP) said the National Assembly would monitor every dime spent by the government in ameliorating the sufferings of Nigerians following the outbreak of COVID-19.
“We must ensure that these interventions have very clear and definite measurable targets. We shouldn’t just throw money here and there and then we don’t see anything because the National Assembly will ensure that it monitors every single kobo,” Lawan said.
He gave the warning, yesterday, during a meeting between the leadership of the National Assembly and members of the Presidential Committee on COVID-19. The senate president said all parts of the country should be considered in the intervention initiatives of the Federal Government.
“We must ensure that there is equity. That there is fairness in the interventions. Every part of this country should have something to ameliorate the situation whether it is coronavirus infected or not. In fact, some of our states have been in a very difficult situation before the outbreak of Coronavirus and such interventions will definitely help,” Lawan said.
At the meeting were the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed; Minister of state for Petroleum, Mr. Timipre Sylva and Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.
The senate president tasked relevant agencies of government to ensure that they streamline their activities along the provisions in the 2020 budge and to avoid needless duplication of projects. In our stimulus package, we need to ensure provisions that will streamline with what is already in the 2020 budget so that we don’t do duplication. In our last meeting, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning indicated very clearly that the executive is proposing a N500 billion stimulus package. While this is a very good proposal, how we wish you could even have more than N500 billion, but my belief is that we don’t duplicate what is already in the 2020 budget. And of course, there is utmost need to streamline what the Federal Ministry of Finance is proposing and what the CBN is also proposing because some of the proposals may have a spill over effect on some projects.
“So there is the need for the Federal Ministry of Finance and the CBN to have their intervention streamlined in such a manner that what someone loses under the stimulus package of the Federal Ministry of Finance, he gains in the stimulus package of the CBN,” Lawan said.
He said the meeting presented an opportunity to have all the facts regarding thesituation on Nigeria’s crude oil and the amendment being contemplated as regards the Medium Term and Expenditure Framework(MTEF) and 2020 budget.
Ahmed said the meeting was designed as a consultative forum to bring the National Assembly leadership up to date “on what we have been doing, but also to take your feedback, your guidance and advice as we move forward towards adjusting the MTEF, adjusting the budget as well as designing the N500 billion stimulus package.”