The House of Representatives Committee on IDPs and the North-East Initiatives is currently investigating how the Presidential Initiative on the North-East (PINE) which is under the supervision of the Office of the Secretary General of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, spent N270 million on just clearing of grasses in some IDP camps.
Also being investigated by house committee is the purported allocation of N188.69 million for Nigerian refugees living in Minawao, Republic of Cameroon.
At a public hearing on IDPs which held at the National Assembly yesterday October 6th, the Chairman of the committee, Sani Zorro, berated the SGF for failing to honor their invitation to explain how such a huge amount of money was spent.
“The SGF who was slated to have appeared hasn’t showed up. He did not write to intimate us on why his office would not come to explain why issues of internally displaced persons have remained disencouraging, in spite of the billions of naira claimed to have been spent. The PINE officials said he’s at the village. But, as the secretary to the government under whose office the rehabilitation of the North-East was placed, we had expected him to come to throw light on the financial expenses made by his office.
However, Executive Secretary in charge of the Presidential Initiative, Umar Gulani, who testified before the committee, said that N270 million was awarded as contract for the removal of 250 kilometres of “invasive plant species along river channels and simplified village irrigation scheme (phase II) in Komadugu Basin in Yobe’’.
Also being investigated by house committee is the purported allocation of N188.69 million for Nigerian refugees living in Minawao, Republic of Cameroon.
At a public hearing on IDPs which held at the National Assembly yesterday October 6th, the Chairman of the committee, Sani Zorro, berated the SGF for failing to honor their invitation to explain how such a huge amount of money was spent.
“The SGF who was slated to have appeared hasn’t showed up. He did not write to intimate us on why his office would not come to explain why issues of internally displaced persons have remained disencouraging, in spite of the billions of naira claimed to have been spent. The PINE officials said he’s at the village. But, as the secretary to the government under whose office the rehabilitation of the North-East was placed, we had expected him to come to throw light on the financial expenses made by his office.
However, Executive Secretary in charge of the Presidential Initiative, Umar Gulani, who testified before the committee, said that N270 million was awarded as contract for the removal of 250 kilometres of “invasive plant species along river channels and simplified village irrigation scheme (phase II) in Komadugu Basin in Yobe’’.
