Reps fail to release subsidy probe report

APRIL 18, 2012 BY JOHN AMEH, ABUJA 

Against its promise and public expectations, the House of Representatives failed on Tuesday to release or debate the report of the fuel subsidy probe carried out by its ad hoc committee.

The matter was neither listed on the Order Paper for the day’s proceedings nor was the Chairman of the Ad-Hoc Committee on the Subsidy Regime, Mr. Farouk Lawan, present at Tuesday’s plenary.

The development fuelled speculation that the panel might have come under pressure from interested parties working against the report.

Lawan, however, claimed on Tuesday when he was contacted that there were still “finishing touches” to be done on the document.

He also claimed to have had sleepless nights since Friday last week, trying to fine-tune the document.

Lawan hinted that the report would probably be presented on Wednesday (today).

The Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, however, defended the non-submission of the report.

Mohammed argued that the House neither gave a definite date nor announced that the report would be presented on April 17 before it proceeded on the Easter vacation on March 29.

He stated that the House only said the report would be taken on resumption from the vacation, but did not give a definite date.

Asked when the report would be presented, he replied that it “might be before the end of this week.”

There are only two sitting days left this week, Wednesday (today) and Thursday (tomorrow), an indication that the report may be deferred to next week.

Findings, however, revealed on Tuesday that some lawmakers were reportedly unhappy over the suspicion that the report had leaked to the Presidency while it was yet to be presented to the House.

It was learnt that the leadership expressed concern that this could create tension in the chambers on Tuesday.

Investigations showed that there were fears that some angry lawmakers might demand that the report be rejected since portions of it were already known to the executive.

The chairman of an important committee close to the leadership confided in The PUNCH that the report might have been withdrawn from the day’s proceedings to “give more room for tempers to calm.”

SOURCE: The Punch 18 April 2012. http://www.punchng.com