Femi Gbajabiamila, leader of the House of Representatives, has disclosed that the excess crude account from which one billion dollars was withdrawn to for the fight against Boko Haram in the North East does not belong to the Federal Government.
Gbajabiamila, lawmaker from Lagos State said the account belonged to the three tiers of government.
The lawmaker noted that the National Assembly, therefore, had no legal authority to query state governments on how they chose to spend their money.
In a statement he issued, the lawmaker explained that the power of the National Assembly to appropriate funds was relevant so long as the money in question belonged to the Federal Government, not when it involved other tiers of government that chose to spend their own money.
He said, “There is a clear misunderstanding of the powers of the National Assembly over public funds and its limitations. The National Assembly only has the power of appropriation over monies belonging to the federal government.
“The ECA does not belong to the Federal Government but to the three tiers of government. The National Assembly cannot query how the states decide to spend their money. The only institution that can query this is the state assembly.
“Where the Governors have decided to “donate” some of their funds from the ECA to fight Boko Haram, their state assemblies can kick against it that such was not appropriated by them. I do agree that due process wasn’t followed by The Governors as they should have sought approval of their states before the donation.
“It is however not for the NASS to complain on behalf of the State Assemblies. This is part of the principle of separation of powers in a constitutional democracy. The National Assembly can only discuss the portion of the federal government money spent if any,” Gbajabiamila said.
Recall that state governors had last week given permission to the Federal Government to utilise $1billion from Nigeria’s excess crude account to tackle Boko Haram insurgency.
However, the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose has criticised plans by the Federal Government to use such huge amount to tackle Boko Haram insurgency which it claims has already been defeated.
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