Reps to ‘juicy’ MDAs: Expose us if we make corrupt demands

House Speaker Yakubu Dogara

…Explain why NASS can’t be part of TSA

The leadership of the House of Representatives has denied any underhand dealings in its oversight functions in ministries, departments and agencies of government (MDAs), challenging any of the MDAs to expose any lawmaker of the House who seeks gratification in the course of his duties.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs Abdulrazak Namdas, threw the challenge on Friday when he led members of the Standing Committee on a courtesy visit to the corporate headquarters of LEADERSHIP Newspapers Group in Abuja.

He was reacting to a question from a member of the Editorial Board that lawmakers were complicit in the rot and corrupt practices in the MDAs, the reason they fight to be members of “Juicy House committees” with oversight power over MDAs with lots of capital votes to fund lawmakers’ profligacy.

Namdas said: “It is true that these are some of the stories that people tell about us, that we go for brown envelopes. Those that are going to give the brown envelopes, let them expose the members (of the House) asking for it.

“What I am saying is that, in the 8th Assembly, there are different issues and there could be challenges all along. But let people do their jobs and I want to tell you that in this Assembly, we are going to have zero tolerance for corruption.”

According to him, the 8th House of Reps has zero tolerance for corruption as contained in its Legislative Agenda, adding that the reasons why the 8th National Assembly can’t be part of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) as directed by the Federal Government was constitutional, stressing that NASS is an independent arm of government just like the Executive and the Judiciary.

Namdas noted that the TSA policy was meant to streamline government’s revenues from its revenue generating agencies, hence the National Assembly cannot be part of the policy since it does not generate revenue.

His words, “We are an arm of government and the Constitution allows us to operate independently. We oversee the Executive. Now, the TSA is mainly made for people who generate revenues and we don’t generate revenue. Our expenditure as the National Assembly cannot be subjected to the Executive for oversight again.

“We came on the mantra of change and I want to assure you that the 8th Assembly is definitely going to be different from other Assemblies even by the pace we are going in terms of delivering our job. We have started differently.

“For the first time, we have what we call the 8th Assembly Legislative Agenda. In this agenda, we are also fighting corruption, ensuring that we deliver legislations for good governance in terms of employment, security and several others. So, we have agreed to work together with Mr. President in line with the Change Agenda.”
-Leadership

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