Again, Reps summon agric ministry perm sec
The House of Representatives Committee on Rural Development has summoned the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Temitope Fashedemi, to brief it on the activities of the rural development segment of the ministry
Consequently, the committee chairman, Marcus Onubun (PDP, Edo) who spoke at the meeting between the committee and the ministry on Friday, expressed displeasure that Fashedemi had consistently ignored its invitation on five different occasions.
Onubun said the committee has decided to give the permanent secretary another opportunity to appear before it as a mark of respect for the two ministers in the ministry who both served in the National Assembly as lawmakers.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, from Borno State and Minister of State, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, from Niger State were members of the 9th Senate.
Onobun said, “This is about the fifth meeting we have had in this Committee on Rural Development and the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has refused to appear.
“This committee is constitutionally bound to query every one of your activities in terms of projects and policies of your ministry. If you don’t know, you must understand now that it is our responsibility.
“Members sitting here represent over 200 million Nigerians. We put all our activities aside to have the on-the-spot assessment of the ministry and we came to you because we wanted to work with you so that Nigerians will get the dividends of democracy through rural development. The Permanent Secretary was not at that meeting.
“But it appears that for some reasons best known to you, you have chosen to frustrate the efforts of this committee. We have the mandate of the House through the Speaker to carry out the exercise we are carrying out.
“I will yield to the request of my colleagues that since we have two Ministers who are products of this National Assembly, we may not use the big stick at this point. We will cause another invitation and urge the minister to release the Permanent Secretary to appear on our next scheduled date.’Related News
He warned that the committee would have no option but to exercise its powers as provided in the constitution, if the rural development boss fails to appear before it.
“If the permanent secretary likes, he should choose to ignore that invitation. Then we will know who is dancing behind who at the end of the day. The Permanent Secretary should appear before this committee on Tuesday, May 21,” he said,
Earlier, a member of the committee from Ebonyi State, Chinedu Ogah, recalled how members abandoned their work to visit the ministry, saying “On that day, the Permanent Secretary was not there. The Director of Finance was not part of it, but he saw a call from the National Assembly and decided to be part of it (the meeting).
“You know we are elected by the people and we speak for the people. Within your conscience, is your agency doing part of the law, or out of the law, when you know we are empowered by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to oversight this agency? Or are you neglecting the House?”
Members of the panel became furious when a Director in the Ministry, Frank Kudla, who represented the Permanent Secretary claimed that he was not in attendance at the meeting to answer queries, but on the instruction of his boss.
Kudla told the committee that Fashedemi was attending an official function at a place he did not disclose to the committee.
“I am telling you on my honour, this is what happened. If the Perm Sec could have been here, he is in the best position to answer questions on behalf of the Ministry”, he said.
The Director said he was not in the best position to answer questions, saying “Our coming is not to query the position. You are calling the Perm Sec because the last time I was here, we discussed this. The perm sec is not deliberately dodging to come out to see you.”
