Reps threaten to order scrapping of agencies over unutilized funds

By Christiana Ekpa

The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Science Engineering, Rep Inuwa Garba has said that some agency had not lived up to their mandate since establishment hence the Committee will recommend that they should be scrapped.

This is as the Committee lambasted the Director-General of Abuja of the Sheda Science and Technology Complex (SHETSCO )Mr Paul Onyenekwe and other officials of the agency  over award of contract and non-completion of projects in  Adamawa, Taraba, Bauchi and Gombe states.

Speaking during the budget defence in Abuja, The Committee Chairman threatened that the commitee would recommend to the House the scraping of some agency in line with the Steve Oronsanye report if the agencies are not meeting up with their responsibilities.

According to him, a lot of discrepancies are been discovered in some agencies budget presentation.

He said “ Most of their budget is just reputation and to an extent, some don’t even want anybody to know what they are doing. The question you will ask, is different from the answer that you are supposed to get from some of the agencies.

“Though some agencies are very relevant and are up and doing and very effective and supportive to the government policies and programs. When we finish, we are coming out to say our stand as a committee and present our report to the appropriation committee.

“Subsequently, we can make our position and proposal to the House very soon in order to help the government and to help the country.

Reacting to the agencies involved Inuwa said, “I will not say it now because we are yet to come to a final conclusion. But when we finish, we can call the agencies, call the head of the agencies and say why and how we are making that recommendation.

“If I now come out to call the agency, I’m not doing justice to myself, I’m not doing justice to the committee. I’m only the chairman of the committee. I have other members that are members of the committee.

“A lot of abnormalities is happening in most of the agencies. You can see one budget is repeated 5, 6, 7 years. The money is increasing, some they will say it’s completed and before, in another way they say completion.

“Another year, completion. And they are putting in money. If you go in the same position, the same project, the same agency, only the amount that differs, the same contractor.

“So, honestly, I can’t say I’m comfortable for now. But what we have seen, a lot needs to be done in the budget and procurement process in our agencies, ministries and parastatals, so that we can be able to come up with something that will help the government and the people of this country.

However, speaking during the budget defence, the Director-General of the Sheda Science and Technology Complex, Onyenekwe blamed the envelope system of budget by the federal government on the non completion of on-going projects in the northern states of the country by the agency.