National Assembly Leaders Meet Buhari on COVID-19 Funds

•Seek 2 Months Free Electricity

The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Tuesday, met with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), behind closed doors to discuss the implementation of the National Social Investment Programme, among other issues.

This comes days after a clash between the National Assembly and the Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment Programme, Maryam Uwais, over the need for a reform of the process of implementing the programme.

Uwais had, on April 8, responded to criticisms of the programme by the legislature with allegations that lawmakers were criticising the implementation of the SIP partly because some of them tried but failed in their bid to insert the names of would-be beneficiaries.

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The National Assembly, however, replied that Uwais should be “receptive to constructive ideas and suggestions expressed to enhance service delivery.”

Lawan, who spoke to journalists after the meeting at the State House in Abuja, reiterated the call for reforms in the social investment initiatives. He said, “This afternoon, we had an engagement with Mr President to discuss with him what we, the leadership of the National Assembly, have resolved and our opinion on various issues regarding the fight against COVID-19 in Nigeria and going forward.“For example, the various donations that we are receiving should go into a single account and should have a fund management committee that would be in charge of releases. Accountability and transparency require that we have that separation.

“It is also an opportunity for us to commend Nigerians and corporate bodies that have given us donations but we believe there should be more coordination as far as the management of the funds is concerned. I believe the Presidential Task Force is doing a very good job, they have been very proactive and they deserve our commendation.”

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“We also believe that it is time to reform the way and manner we implement the Social Investment Programme. This is a very important programme that is to help Nigerians who are poor and vulnerable.

“We believe that, having implemented this programme from 2016 to date, we should be reviewing to evaluate the efficacy and efficiency with which we have been implementing this programme.”

The Senate President emphasised the need to have a transparent programme that would go down to the people that deserved the support and an equitable and fair projects as far as the geographical spread across the country was concerned.

According to him, the Federal Government is considering bringing the request for a stimulus package of N500bn to the National Assembly.

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He said, “We believe that we should be watching closely and it is with this respect we feel that we should be on standby so that, should there be a presentation of that request for the stimulus package to be passed, we simply reconvene in the National Assembly to look into the request of the executive arm of government with the intention of ensuring that the stimulus is available to Nigerians at this state.”

Lawan stated that, among the discussions with Buhari, was the proposition that the various donations to Nigeria should go into a single account with a management fund committee that would be in charge of releases.

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When asked whether he wanted the national social register discarded, the Senate President argued that the present register was contrived by “the World Bank method,” saying the distribution should be on the basis of senatorial districts, federal constituencies, or local governments. According to him, the implementation procedure does not precisely capture the kind of beneficiaries that ordinarily should be.

The National Assembly leadership also tabled before the President the need for a two-month free electricity for the citizenry observing the lockdown ordered by President Buhari. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, said they discussed the issue of providing free electricity for Nigerians as result of the lockdown on COVID-19, so as to make them more comfortable as they stay at home.

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He said: “You know I am very passionate about electricity for our people. Interestingly, I brought it up today (yesterday) and we discussed that with the President and hopefully in a matter of days he will meet with the stakeholders on electricity. I impressed on him my position, the DISCOs have their issues, no question about it but at this point in time we need to put that aside and think of the Nigerian people.”

“The President listened very attentively and I think hopefully whatever the issues are we will be able to resolve them at least for these two months and then long-term, how electricity will not be an issue but what is imperative right now, is when you ask people to remain at home, you must make that home a little bit comfortable for them.”

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