Hon. Uko Nkole, who represents Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency of Abia State who made the revelation, also disclosed that if the Federal Government had implements half of the bills that were made by the legislature, Nigeria wouldn’t have been where it is today.
Exchanging views with newsmen at his Ozu Abam country home in Arochukwu Local Government Area, Nkole noted that the executive has not been keen in adopting and implementing measures proposed by the National Assembly, which were aimed at putting Nigeria on a sound footing, economically and otherwise, a development he described as maladministration.
He said before the onset of economic recession, the National Assembly took steps that would have boosted the economy and curbed the recession.
“This issue of recession, even the depreciation of the naira, foreign exchange policies that have collapsed the naira for a very long time, these were measures for which we even invited the Central Bank Governor,” he said, adding that the NASS is peopled by experts and professionals who were in tune with the times and could detect ominous signals in their respective fields.
“You have a House that comprises of respected professionals. We speak, we blow our grammar, discuss our bills and motions and send it to the executive, and they just look at it and drop it aside.
“So, if those things are implemented, mark my word, if our motions are implemented, Nigeria would not have any need to be where we are, quote me anywhere,” he said.
The lawmaker identified the recession as the factor hindering implementation of the capital projects of the 2016 budget of the Federal Government, lamenting that none of the N150 million projects he nominated into the budget for his constituency has taken off.
“As I speak to you, the monies I was able to appropriate within the Federal Constituency, none of them has been released. Like this Bende/Ohafia Road, it is in this year’s budget. We are already in October and as I speak to you, it has not been procured.
“The other projects I nominated for the Federal Constituency, none of them has been awarded and no work has started and we are already talking about 2017. With the delay in the implementation of the budget and paucity of funds due to recession we have been plunged into, occasioned by maladministration, these are very big challenges,” he lamented,
On the stand-off between the House and the suspended chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Usman Jibrin, Nkole said the House was right in suspending him, explaining that the embattled lawmaker acted in breach of rules guiding members in resolving disputes within the House.
“Well, you see, every organisation has its rules that guide it and if you go against the rules, why not,” he said, adding that he would not want to join issues with Jibrin who he accused of feeding the public with blatant lies.
“We are all equals. Nobody is bigger than the other. The Speaker represents a Federal Constituency; he is representing a Federal Constituency. That you have an opportunity to be a Speaker, or a Chairman does not confer any extra advantage on you because we put you there; we gave you the powers. We can as well take it from you.
“He wasn’t elected Chairman of Appropriation Committee when they were voting for him, so, what is wrong there? The Speaker can be disciplined because he wasn’t elected as Speaker, House of Representatives from the polling unit. He was elected whatever thing he is by the House. He derives his power from the House. So, it is still the same House Rules that gave them the same powers, so it was still the same House Rules that was applied,” Nkole said. He stressed that “whatever thing that was done was consistent with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
•Photo shows Hon. Uko Nkole.
