The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Farouk has said Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike refused to collect federal government palliatives for his people.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Farouk made the statement during a controversial moment on Tuesday while defending her ministry’s budget before the House Committee on Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) and Humanitarian Matters.
Controversy started when Rep. Fatahu Muhammed (APC-Katsina) accused a member of the committee, Rep. Abiante Awaji-Inombek (PDP-Rivers) of attacking the minister with his questions.
Awaji-Inombek had during budget defence by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development in Abuja said the document she presented before the committee was not comprehensive.
He moved a motion that the minister be asked to go and re-present the budget to ensure it was comprehensive enough before presenting it to the committee.
He also told the minister to explain why out of over 700 employed youths in the ministry that only two were from Rivers.
He had also alleged that such recruitment was skewed, while pleading with the minister to ensure that such gap was closed to accommodate people from Rivers.
The Chairman of the Committee, Mohammed Jega, in his reaction said such a move was an attempt to derail the committee from doing its job, adding however that his statement should not be taken as protecting the minister.
Also reacting, Mohammed Seide a member of the committee said such statement credited to Awaji-Inombek was with the intention to harass the minister, advising members to guard their utterances.
However, members of the committee agreed that the utterances of some members could not amount to harassment as was being interpreted by some.
The minister while responding said that the ministry did not employ anyone, adding that staff members were posted from other ministries by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.
She said that the only body saddled with the responsibility of recruitment was the Federal Civil Service Commission.
According to her, the ministry had also distributed palliative to all the state except Rivers which according to her, Gov. Nyesom Wike had refused to collect.
The minister said that over 70,000 tons of grain were released by the Federal Government for onward delivery to the poor and vulnerable as palliative.
She also said that contrary to insinuation, the ministry had not distributed cash in the name of palliative, adding that no cash was received from any organisation within or outside the country.
The minister said she had operated within the money appropriated for the ministry, adding that some relief materials in term of food were given to the ministry by some organisations.
Reps Committee turns back Farouk over incomplete budget document
Meanwhile, the House committee on IDPs and Refugees stepped down the 2020/2021 budget review and consideration of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development due to incomplete details presented by the ministry.
According to the Muhammad Umar Jega-led Committee, the 2020 budget performance documents presented to the Committee by the Minister, Sadiya Umar Farouk, were not only incomplete but short on required information to access the performance of the ministry’s budget performance for the period under review.
Besides the vague description of several expenditures on some items, the Committee was disappointed that details of food palliative from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Nigerian Customs Service could not be found in the presentation.
The Committee advised that the documents be taken back and preferred to include all necessary information required to access the ministry’s performance for the year, “Because Nigerians will want to know how their resources are being spent,” Jega said.
The Minister, Farouk in her response said no physical cash was disbursed by the ministry as palliative but food palliative was distributed to every state and the FCT, except Rivers that was yet to get hers.
She said cash palliative transfer was done through existing platforms available to the ministry.
The rescheduled budget defense/presentation session is slated for next Tuesday.