The House of Representatives Committee to oversight the emergency administration in Rivers state has raised questions over allocation of about N24 billion for the installation of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in the state’s government house as proposed in the Rivers’ N1.48 trillion.
The Committee has also demanded from the Sole Administrator of the state, Vice Admiral Ibok-Eke Ibas (rtd), to within 48 hours furnish it with breakdown of allocated sums in the budget.
Chairman of the committee and Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Julius Ihonvbere, issued the directive on Monday at budget defence session held in Abuja, noting that the committee had gone through the budget as presented by the sole administrator and had raised several issues.
He also stated that the administrator should submit the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), a legal document which should precede the budget presentation.
The panel also queried the allocation of N30 billion for the purchase of gun boats, and another N23 billion earmarked for contingency reserves, requesting for justification of the sum.
“We need additional details for those allocations, we request details of state Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in the last three months to enable us know your financial flows so that we can weigh it against the deficit in the budget in terms of financing it, and carrying out some of the projects.
“We also need details of transfers to local governments, essentially how local government funds that come into the state are being managed at the moment.
“Those documents we have requested for must reach us within 48 hours; be rest assured that we are all on the same side in terms of getting Rivers working again.
“We want to ensure that we will promote a lot of accountability and ensure that the interest of the people themselves, no matter how remote they are from the state capital, are protected,” the Chairman said.