Tuesday 15 January 2013

No hiding place for Maina over N195b Pension scam- Senate


Maina
Maina
The Senate yesterday vowed to ensure that the Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Alhaji Abdulrasheed Maina, faces justice, no matter how long it takes.
It said it was not sure whether the 2013 Appropriation Bill it passed on December 20 has been forwarded to President Goodluck Jonathan for assent.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said this at a news conference in Abuja.
On the 2013 budget, he said the fiscal estimate may still be undergoing “mechanical and bureaucratic processes”.
Asked whether the 2013 Appropriation Bill has been sent to the Presidency for assent, Abaribe said: “The Senate has passed the 2013 budget. Any other thing going on is the normal course of the bureaucracy involved and I don’t think there would be any problem with that.
“The important thing is that the 2013 budget was passed on December 20 by a concurrence of both Houses and the passage also by both Houses of the National Assembly and this officially is the passage of the budget by the parliament.
“I will have to assume that such has been done because after you have passed the budget, what is left is simply mechanical. You get a clean copy and then, you send it. I’m assuming that it must have been passed.”
The Senate spokesman said the decision to invite Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Abubakar over the Maina issue was a collective decision of the Senate and not that of the joint committee probing the administration of pension funds.
He said the Senate should not be seen as “helpless” in tackling the refusal of Maina to appear before its joint committee despite several summonses and an arrest warrant.
Said Abaribe: “It is necessary for Nigerians to know that a committee of the National Assembly in either House is a representative of the House.
“It means if a committee of the Senate is operating or summoning anybody, it’s not just that committee; it is the whole Senate.
“It means whatever sanctions coming are not just from that committee, but the whole Senate.
“So, if a committee says ‘we have already discussed with our leadership and this is the step we are going to take’, then, you have to assume that such is a step approved by the Senate.
“But when committees seek further power, they bring it to the floor of the Senate. Then, we can vote for it, but the rule is that every committee is a representation of the Senate as a whole.
“On the issue of Maina, let me say that the Senate cannot be said to be helpless.
“On the contrary, the Senate will and I want to lay emphasis on that word, the Senate will pursue the matter to its logical conclusion.”
Maina has been under fire from the Upper Chamber for failing to heed the summonses of its Joint Committee on Establishment, Public Service and States and Local Government Administration to defend himself over allegation of N195billion pension fraud.
The Chairman of the joint committee, Senator Aloysius Etok, last week said the Senate would summon the IGP to explain his failure to arrest Mania following an order from Senate President David Mark.
The lawmaker was optimistic that the implementation of the budget could still begin this month.
He said: “I don’t think it is late. This is January 14 and whenever the assent is done this month, the budget can start to operate.
“I want us not to focus on this question of whether there is some time lag.
“I don’t think such time lag is significant for it to mean that the operation of the budget will not start from January.
“We worked assiduously to deliver to Nigerians what we have promised to do.
“In line with what President Jonathan said when he delivered the budget address in the National Assembly,
his thoughts were that it was time for us to keep to schedule.
“We have kept to our own schedule and I think Nigerians will not find us lagging behind with regards to that.”
NaijaCenter

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