Apparently agitated over the poor performance of President Goodluck Jonathan, a member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Samuel Adejare, has vowed that the House will not back-off from the threat to impeach his Excellency. He warned that the President and members of his cabinet must therefore sit up and ensure they meet the target of budget implementation as required by the House by September.
According to him, the target was for the budget to record 100 percent performance and nothing less.
Adejare, who spoke with journalists in Lagos, also accused the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, of thinking she could treat the members of the House like buffoons and mesmerize them with figures.
Dr. Adejare faulted Iweala’s claim that the budget had recorded 56 percent performance when ordinarily, it only recorded 12.6 percent according to documents presented to the Senate by the Ministry of Finance, adding that since the impeachment threat was raised at the floor of the House, the President had been running from pillar to post in an effort to convince Nigerians that he was working.
He said the impeachment threat was just the beginning of a series of moves to change the country for the better while laughing off claims by Dr. Okonjo-Iweala that the 100 per cent budget performance was not achievable.
“I can assure you that the House will go ahead with the impeachment notice on the President if the target is not met,” he said.
“We must stop behaving as magicians in this country. You have said in the last six months, you were preparing. Is it in the next six months you would work?” he queried.
Adejare, who is a member of the Anti-Corruption Committee of the House, further slammed the Presidency for hurriedly pumping money into government ministries, agencies and parastatals in the aftermath of the impeachment threat, saying this would result in inflation.
He disclosed that the House was aware that as at July this year, all the revenue generating agencies for the Federal Government had generated over N3 trillion.
This is just N1 trillion short of the N4 trillion 2012 budget just as the federal lawmaker hinted that the revenue of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had not been added.
“Yet, we planned for deficit, yet this government has taken N400 billion loan to balance the deficit. And yet, you have not released more than N400 billion out of the capital budget for the year.
“Some of us believe we do not need a deficit but a surplus budget because we are generating more than we are spending and if you think it is a lie, ask them to make it public,” he lamented.
He recalled that nobody compelled those in government to function in any capacity and that as such, they are expected to perform according to the political office they choose to occupy.
He also called the Speaker of the House, Aminu Tambuwal, a very courageous man, who wants the best for the country without sentiments.
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