The house of representatives has
accused Amina Shamaki, permanent secretary, ministry of science and technology,
of alleged legislative contempt.
Shamaki was said to have
restrained the house committee on science and technology from performing their
duties during a recent public hearing.
At plenary on Wednesday, Beni
Lar, chairman of the committee, told lawmakers that the permanent secretary
also ordered some officials of the ministry attending the hearing to leave the
hearing or get queried.
The said hearing was on some
bills seeking to give legal backing to some federal agencies that do not have
laws establishing them.
Lar said: “On May 31, when the
committee on science and technology was holding a public hearing, we noticed
some strange movements; the permanent ministry was walking along the corridor
and later came in and sat down.
“I directed someone to tell her
to come forward and sit at the front but the message I got in response was that
she said she won’t come forward.
“Not long after, we learnt she
summoned top officials from the ministry who came for the hearing outside and
ordered them to leave. And that they were given letters and forced to sign that
if they attended the hearing again, they will be queried.”
Lar said by such act, the
permanent secretary committed “legislative contempt of highest order” and “she
has been disobeying all the known civil service rules.”
The lawmaker asked the house to
invoke section 14 of the legislative houses (powers and privileges) act against
Shamaki for the alleged contempt.
The said section states: “A
person who: assaults or obstructs a member of the legislative house while in
the execution of his or her duties … [or] within the legislative house; … [or]
who refuses to abide by the laid down proceeding of a legislative house or
committee commits a contempt of the legislative house.”
Sub-section three of the section
proposes a “fine of N500,000 or imprisonment for a term of two years or both”
if the person so accused is found guilty.
Other lawmakers who spoke on the
issue also condemned the permanent secretary’s alleged act and urged the house
to call her to order.
Nkem Uzoma from Abia state
described the act as a “sacrilege.”
“The matter should also be
referred to the appropriate law enforcement agencies. We should set an example
with this otherwise we would be battling with these kind of issues. If this is
not handled seriously, something worse will happen to us,” he said.
Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the
house, said there is need to invite the permanent secretary to hear her side of
the story “to give room for fair hearing”.
Thereafter, the house summoned
the permanent secretary and subsequently referred the matter to the committee
on ethics and privileges for investigation.
Efforts to get the permanent
secretary’s reaction were unsuccessful as the official line of the ministry’s
media office was not available when this report was filed.
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