Members of the House of Representatives Committee on Internally Displaced on Tuesday openly bickered over alleged harassment of Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Hajia Sadiya Umar Farouk by the committee over the distribution of COVID 19 palliatives.
A member of the Committee, Fatuhu Mohammed (APC, Katsina), accused his colleagues of unnecessarily “harassing” minister over the distribution of the palliatives as ordered by the President when it was clear that she had lived up to expectations in the discharge of her duties.
Mohammed, who boasted that he is the only lawmaker in the House that benefited from the personal vote of President Muhammadu Buhari at the poll, alleged that recent looting of palliatives across the country during #EndSARS protests was clear evidence that the minister ensured even distribution of COVID 19 palliatives across the country.
Speaking in a rather harsh tone, he said: “This minister has done very well. This is not the right way to treat her. We all saw what happened during the #EndSARS protest; how they looted palliatives from various warehouses across the country. Why the harassment? I can’t allow this to happen to her.”
But, members of the committee, however, took exception to the scathing remarks retorting “No! Nobody is harassing her here. We are only doing our jobs. You have to withdraw your words; withdraw your words …”
Not wanting to be intimidated, the Katsina-born lawmaker walked out of the committee sitting angrily as the minister watched as the drama unfolded.
Chairman of the committee Mohammed Jega (APC, Kebbi) said it was the responsibility of the committee to know the details of how 2020 budget was implemented through its oversight function.
The chairman, however, refused to endorse a motion by Hon Awaji -Inombek Dogomie Abiante (PDP, Rivers) for the committee to suspend consideration of the ministry’s 2021 budget proposal pending until details of the 2020 budgetary expenditure is made available.
Presenting the ministry’s 2021 budget estimates, the minister said about N321.4 million or 58.29% of total allocation for COVID-19 intervention was utilised and appealed to the lawmakers to approve N4.038 billion allocated to her ministry in the 2021 budget.
Apart from the budgeted sum, she added that both food and non -food items received from the Nigeria Custom Service during the COVID-19 lockdown were distributed to targetted beneficiaries cutting across a wide range of vulnerable groups, including IDPs in the 36 states and the federal capital Territory (FCT).
The minister insisted that the 36 state governors including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) received COVID-19 palliatives, except Rivers State, that rejected its own share, adding that the state can still access its own share of the palliatives.
She minister said the ministry did not receive funding from any organisation, saying: “I think he was asking if we have counterpart or external funding apart from the budgetary. I say no to that.”
