N10bn loan crisis: Reps seek Jonathan’s bailout

Posted by admin House, Legislature Friday, May 20th, 2011

After a hot session behind closed door, the House of Representatives yesterday decided to raise a five-man team to negotiate financial bailout with President Goodluck Jonathan.

The leadership of the House had been having a running battle with banks to obtain loans to pay the statutory allowance of members and the outstanding allowances of its recalled eleven members after weeks of suspension last June. Speaker Dimeji Bankole had confessed to his colleagues that a loan of N10 billion obtained was blocking the payment of the allowances, while banks contacted to facilitate fresh loans declined. Unlike the last closed door session after which the Speaker announced the decisions arrived at, he did not mention what transpired at yesterday’s session, which lasted for one hour and 36 minutes.

However, it was gathered that the Speaker succeeded in wooing members to his side with explanations that progress had been made in reworking the 2011 budget for the president to sign it into law.
The delay in returning the budget to the president for his assent was laid on the door- step of the Senate Chairman for Appropriation, Senator Iyiola Omisore, who had been away from the National Assembly for weeks.
Bankole sold an idea to set a five-man delegation to meet the President on the need to come to the aid of the House.

The idea, it was gathered, provoked hot argument. But at the end of the parley, an agreement was made and the Speaker named to lead the team to meet with president. Others who are to join him are the Deputy Speaker, Bayero Nafada, Halims Agoda, Dino Melaye and Abdul Ningi. They are to solicit for help from the president to source for money to pay the last allowances of the 360 members, which had been captured in the 2011 budget as passed by the National Assembly, a source said.

Evidence that the budget had been reworked was discussed at the closed session, while it was learnt that temper rose to a boiling point on the issue that the rework was carried out without the knowledge of most relevant chairmen to preparation of the budget. Bankole also informed his colleagues that money had been sourced from which 55 percent of the outstanding allowances of the recalled eleven members was paid . He assured that before next Tuesday, the balance of their allowances would be paid.

At the plenary, the House considered only eight clauses out of the 406 clauses of the report of the joint committees on Petroleum Resources [Upstream and Downstream], Gas and Justice on a bill to provide legal and regulatory framework for the petroleum industry, otherwise known as Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
The House had erupted in confusion with members using un-parliamentary words when the report was to be debated on Wednesday, leading to its postponement.

The House also considered the conference committee report on the 2011 outstanding borrowing plan of the Federal Government and accepted it. The house also read for the second time a bill for an act to amend some sections of the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria Act.

-Sunwp_posts