Members of the lower legislative
chamber of the national assembly were divided on Thursday over a motion to
deduct 13 percent derivation from the $1 billion approved for the fight against
insurgency and general security in the country.
The bill, introduced by Ken
Chikere, from Rivers state, seeks to ensure that the 13 percent derivation is
given to oil-producing states in the country.
Last year, governors approved
that the $1 billion should be taken from the excess crude account (ECA) to help
in the fight against insurgency and as well as for security purposes.
While introducing the motion,
Chikere said even though the money should be deducted and given to the states
in accordance to the section 162 (2) of the 1999 constitution “as benefits”
payable to them, such had not been done.
He added that the money, if not
paid to the states, “would amount to double contribution from the said states”
in the war against insurgency and also a breach of section 162(2) of the
constitution as well as section 1 of the Allocation Revenue (federation account)
Act.
However, while some of the
lawmakers agreed that the 13 percent derivation should be deducted, others
argued that the excess crude account in question is not subject to such
provision as contained in the constitution.
Some also asked if such
withdrawal is subject to the approval of the national assembly.
Contributing to the motion, Henry
Achibong from Akwa Ibom asked: “This money being used to fight insurgency, has
it been approved by the national assembly?
“Is it meant for states or for the
federal government or for the entire federation? If it is for the entire
country, then it is subjected to the approval of the national assembly.”
Yisa Orker-jev, chairman of the
house committee on rules and businesses, described the motion as “speculative
as it is not yet clear the tier of government and the account the fund belongs
to”.
“The best thing to do in this
case is to assign the committee on finance to study this and know what is in
the excess crude account, what belongs to each tier of government and what
should be done,” he also said.
Also speaking, Yusuf Lasun,
deputy speaker of the house, said while the bill is relevant, the lawmakers
should take cognisance of the fact that “Boko Haram is real and we have
suffered a lot from it”.
He said: “This motion touches the
heart of our constitution but we have not been able to differentiate between
federation account and consolidated account. And that is a major problem.
“So we should sit down and study
the issues involved well before we take any action on this.”
Commenting on the motion, Yakubu
Dogara, speaker of the house, said the lawmakers should be more concerned with
whether the constitution had been tampered with or not.
He said: “If this money has been
withdrawn and we know which tier of government it belongs, our concern will
then be if whatever is being done is against that provision of the constitution
or any other provision.”
The lawmakers, therefore,
mandated the house committee on finance to study the issue and report back to
the house within four weeks.
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