House Moves to Ensure Compliance with Legislative Summons

• IG meets with c’ttee after threat of arrest
Damilola Oyedele in Abuja
A bill seeking to ensure compliance with legislative summons, and to provide stricter sanctions for those who shun such summons yesterday passed through second reading in the House of Representatives

Sponsored by Hon. Sunday Karimi (Kogi PDP), the bill is named “a bill for an act to amend the legislative houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, laws of the federation of Nigeria, 2004 to make more stringent the offence of failure to attend investigative hearings of legislative houses and for other related matters.”

The amendment prescribes a N1 million fine for offenders or a three-month jail sentence.

Karimi said it was borne out of the frustration which the lawmakers have to deal with when government officials, and powerful or influential persons deliberately shun investigative hearings, which are part of the constitutional mandates of the National Assembly.

The bill passed second reading as the Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr. Ibrahim Idris, finally appeared before the Police Affairs Committee to explain allegations of misappropriation of about N7billion in the 2016 budget.

He allegedly diverted funds meant for the procurement of Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) and renovation of police barracks, to purchase Toyota Hiace vehicles and other uses, without approval from the National Assembly as required by the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

The House last week had threatened to order for the arrest of Idris when he failed to appear before the committee after three summons, prompting the House to order him to appear January 19, 2017.

Idris, who met with the committee behind closed doors, refused to speak with journalists when he exited the meeting.
THISDAY gathered that the committee resolved to set up a six-man committee to look into the allegations.