The Senate has assured Nigerians that it will explore all necessary legislative options to ensure that members of the executive respond to invitations from the National Assembly.
Sen. Abdul Ningi, Senate Ad hoc Committee on SURE-P, gave the assurance on Tuesday in Abuja while reacting to failure by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Dieziani Allison-Madueke, to appear before it.
The chairman noted that Allison-Madueke neither gave reason for her failure to appear before the committee nor sent a representative.
“We will continue to find ways and means to deal with people who feel they are bigger than the country.
“Something will happen sooner than later and I assure you that the Senate will take drastic action,” Ningi said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was also scheduled to appear before the committee on Tuesday.
Ningi, however, read out a letter from the Minister of Finance, informing the committee that she was representing President Goodluck Jonathan at a global fund event in the U.S.
Okonjo-Iweala assured the committee that she would be available to appear by next week.
Ningi noted that the minister had failed to honour two previous invitations by the committee, requesting her to appear and brief it on how the SURE-P funds were being managed.
He said that the minister’s refusal to appear on Tuesday, after a third invitation was extended to her, indicated that there were “shady practice” in the management of SURE-P funds.
“Ministry of Petroleum Resources is the foundation of SURE-P and we (committee) think that they have something to hide.
“We are saying that this programme is not being transparently run by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
“Today is the third invitation, and it is a further testimony that some people feel greater than the country.”
Ningi said that the committee had approached the leadership of the Senate to bring the matter to the attention of the president. (NAN)
