[color=#990000][/color]Following the release of the breakdown of the details of the 2009 budget, Senate yesterday launched into a closed door session where it queried Chairman of the Appropriation Committee, Senator Iyiola Omisore on the allocation of funds for projects in members’ constituencies in the Southwest geo-political zone.


THISDAY learnt that the allocation of more funds for constituency projects in favour of Osun State where Omisore comes from at the expense of other states in the zone was one of the issues discussed at the session.

A source at the more than one-and-a-half hour long session said that Omisore could not offer convincing explanations to the Senate on the issue.
Members were said to have taken their turn to draw the attention of the Senate to specific cases of shoddiness, lopsidedness and unfair deals in the budget as packaged by the Appropriation Committee, harmonised by the Joint Finance Committee and passed by the National Assembly.

Omisore, as learnt, rankled his colleagues by allegedly allocating N520 million for projects in his Osun East Senatorial District as against the about N270 million that the district of every other South-west senator got.

Although the source did not give the specifics of Omisore’s explanation and/or defence, he said that the Senate leadership came to his assistance by dousing the tension that was brewing on the issue.
He said it was agreed that the budget was messed up, but the areas of concerns were overlooked.

But Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Information, Senator Ayogu Eze, while briefing Senate Correspondents, said the increase in the allocation to constituency projects in Osun East was because another member decided to throw N250 million out of his allocation to the projects in Osun East.

According to him, “You are talking about allocation to Osun State , for instance. When the Executive brought their proposals and during our meetings with them, it was agreed that there would be N60 billion worth of money for constituency projects and it was split N10 billion per geo-political zone.
“It was equally split among the states. In the South-east zone and, I give you an example, it was split among the five states. Sometimes, marginalisation can be beneficial because South-east was the only zone that could get N2 billion per state because we are the only one with five states.

“In Enugu , for instance, both members of the House of Representatives and Senators decided to put it in the Enugu Airport ( Akanu Ibiam Airport ) Expansion project. That is where we put the money.”
Eze said further, “In the case of the South-west, it was split among the National Assembly members and each of them got about N270 million and one of the members took N250 million out of his own money and put in that Osun State, which is what reflected there and some people who were in certain committees thought that an appropriation had flown in through the roof into their committees."
Asked the rationale behind a member’s decision to donate his “personal” money to government, Eze said: “It was not his personal money; that is not what I said. That is his own constituency project allocated to him as a Senator.

“He got N270 million but he put N250 million. It does not matter where you put it now. The prerogative of the project where you put it belongs to the member of the National Assembly.
“That one, nobody restricts you where you put your money. The prerogative of where you put your money now belongs to you. In fact, I can get my own constituency project and put it in Ogun State if I know that there is a project I want to pursue in Ogun State .”

MY CONCERN: AT THIS MOMENT, I DON'T KNOW OF WHAT TO THINK ANYMORE, I BET YOU THAT WE DON'T HAVE ANY GOVERNMENT OR SYSTEM IN NIGERIA - THAT IS AN UNDISPUTED FACT. THIS IS A CRUCIAL MOMENT FOR THE WHOLE WORLD; AND ALL NIGERIA CAN DO TO MOVE UP TO THE 21ST CENTURY AND BECOME A DEVELOPED NATION IS FOR PEOPLE IN GOVERNMENT TO SAHER HUGE MONEY OF THIS SORT WITH NO CONCERN. WELL, I GUESS THE FG IS JUST PLAYING PRANKS WITH NEWS OF SALARY CUT FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, THE TRUTH IS, THEY'LL MAKE UP AT ANY GIVEN TIME.