Posted by By DESMOND MGBOH/Kano on
Against widely held perception, the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, Friday in Kano, denied that the series of investigations currently being undertaken by the various committees of the House are targeted at the person of the former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
Against widely held perception, the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, Friday in Kano, denied that the series of investigations currently being undertaken by the various committees of the House are targeted at the person of the former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
Bankole, who was in Kano to attend the wedding ceremony of a friend, said that if the present administration of Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar Adua's seven-point agenda, which include the power and petroleum sector, was to be religiously implemented, especially in view of the fact that a supplementary budget would soon be presented to the House, it is necessary to look at the past.
According to him, 'Before we begin to spend money in these sectors, we want to know, we want to know about the mistakes of the past and then be in a position to avoid a repeat of these mistakes, if at all there is any."
He maintained that it is only after a proper study of the past, that the House would now be in a proper position to be guided against a repeat of the same mistakes in the future.
According to Bankole, it is improper to refer to the on going exercises as a probe of the past regime, stating that the House is just out to perform its oversight functions as prescribed by the constitution. 'As far as the seven-point agenda of the administration is concerned, when we appropriate funds for projects, we are not only going to be concerned in the outcome, but must follow it to logical end," he said.
Bankole noted that so far, neither he nor any member of the House of Representatives had been put under any pressure by those affected by the work of the committees, adding that for now, he is 'cool" on the seat of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The House of Representatives, apart from the ongoing power probe, is also set to begin the probe of the activities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) under the eight years of the former administration of Olusegun Obasanjo. NNPC had the former president, Obasanjo as its officiating minister during the period.
President Yar Adua had complained about the over 10billion dollars spent in the power sector, without a corresponding return of additional electricity supply to Nigerians.