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.. insists due process was not followed
By Emman Ovuakporie
Senate Committee on Trade and Investments on Tuesday queried NEPZA over transfer of N14billion into a private company,Nigeria Special Economic Zones Company NESZC from 2017 Appropriation Act.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Senator Rose Oko made this known during the 2020 budget defence in Abuja.
Senator Oko said that the Ministry transferred the said amount to a private company in 2017, without due authorization from the National Assembly.
She said the committee intends to see query and inquiry on the Ministry to stop the alleged illegality.
She insisted that the committee must get to the logical conclusion of the matter by seeking for explanation how that sum got moved from government coffers to a private company without due process.
The senator said the committee would also recommend the reduction of some agencies under the Ministry, saying that many of them have overlapping functions.
Responding the Minister of state for the Ministry, Hajiya Mariam Katagum expressed her inability to respond to the question adding that she has just been assigned to the Ministry and that the permanent secretary was In the position to explain.
She however bemoaned lack of funding of capital projects in the 2017 to 2018 Appropriation Acts, which led to only fifteen percent implementation.