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It has been gathered that some members of the Anambra State House of Assembly have given the state Governor, Chief Willie Obiano, a condition to support his re-election next year, demanding that the governor must give Prado jeeps to the lawmakers to get their support.

The Speaker of the Assembly, Mrs. Rita Maduagwu, however, told our correspondent on the telephone that the Assembly’s support for the governor was unconditional.

She said, “Those expecting that the executive and the legislature in Anambra will be at war will be disappointed. We will continue to work in synergy with the executive and deliver Governor Obiano for a second tenure.

“The harmonious relationship between the executive and the other arms of government will make for steady progress in Anambra State while still maintaining the principles of checks and balances.”

Spearheading the demand for Prado Jeeps, the Minority Leader in the House, Mr. Onyebuchi Offor, had at a forum accused the governor of neglecting the legislature.

He described the condition of service at the House as deplorable.

He alleged that the governor pocketed about N1.2bn as security votes, monthly, describing it as unjust and unconscionable.

Offor, representing Ekwusigo constituency, had gone to some radio stations in the state to crusade against the governor in that respect.

Some lawmakers who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity said they were neglected by the governor.

One of them said, “We can’t continue this way. This is a man (governor) who does not listen to advice and he has continued to fail to recognise the lawmakers in terms of bettering their condition of service.

“Our colleagues in other states move in jeeps but what we use here is Escape car which is ridiculous. What is the governor doing with N1.2bn every month as security vote; we are not going to allow him to continue like that.

“He has to provide us with Prado Jeeps and improve our condition of service, otherwise we will wait for him during the election,” the lawmaker stated.

In his reaction, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Tony Nnacheta, said he was not ready to join issues with the legislators on a matter that was speculative and baseless.

“We are not merchants that if you say you need Prado Jeep, we give you. Are they saying we should give them Prado Jeeps because our economy has improved or what?
“Are they saying that we should abandon our responsibility of paying workers and pensioners and buy jeeps for them?
On the governor’s security, Nnacheta said he would not want to discuss such issues on pages of newspapers.

He said “Security is a sensitive issue you don’t discuss anyhow. But one issue that is clear is that security in the state has changed for good.”

President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that the implementation of school feeding programme and N5000 monthly payment to the poor will not be fully implemented in the 2016 budget because it will take some time to work out proper modalities for their operation.

Buhari had proposed N500 billion Special Intervention Programme in the 2016 Budget for these purposes.

However, in a letter dated October 24, 2016 written to the National Assembly, titled: “Request for Virement of Funds Appropriated For Special Intervention (Recurrent) and Special Intervention (Capital) for the Funding of critical recurrent and Capital Items, Buhari sought to move some of the funds from the subhead.

Buhari, in the letter, wants to move N180 billion from the Special Intervention Programme, which should have taken care of the schools feeding programme and the N5000 monthly for the poor in the country.

The letter reads in part: “From the foregoing, the total recurrent expenditure is N166 billion while the capital expenditure requirement is N14 billion. Most of MDAS have substantially advanced work on their 2016 procurement plans, and are awaiting release of funds.

“The personnel cost and overhead provision leave no margin for amounts to be vired from them. The only viable provision from which the required amounts can be vired are those for the special intervention programme which are not likely to be fully utilized this year as it took some time to work out proper operational modalities for its operation, we are committed to the implementation of the special intervention progamme and intend to provide for it in the 2017 budget.”

As Nigerians continue to grapple with tough times occasioned by the ongoing recession, governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have pleaded with Nigerians to be patient, assuring them that there will be a positive change in their living conditions next year.

Speaking with State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday, chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, Rochas Okorocha, assured Nigerians that the APC-led federal government will take Nigeria to the Promised Land.

He pointed out that Nigeria is going through a very serious economic surgery, and as every surgical operation is painful, everybody in the country is experiencing the current suffering.
“We share the pains of Nigerians; every human being must feel it. We also feel what they are going through. But we are asking for a little patience; let us do things the right way and do it once and for all.

“I am sure that by next year you will begin to see changes: the price of rice will drop; price of dollar will begin to stabilise and we will see a lot of challenges, but at this painful moment, nobody likes it. So Nigerians should bear with us as a government,” Governor Okorocha said.
The governor further absolved his party o being responsible for the hardship.

According to him, this was not a problem brought by the APC government, but a problem that existed long before the party came to government.

He asserted that the APC was just trying to clear the mess of the past.

“But we must take responsibility and we must never shift the responsibility to anybody,” he said, adding that as the party in power at the moment, APC was now responsible for both the good and the bad that were happening in Nigeria “but we are promising Nigerians that we shall fix it.”

Meanwhile, Okorocha, who is also the governor of Imo State, expressed the fear that the internal crisis in Ondo APC may affect the party’s fortunes in the forthcoming gubernatorial poll.
He said, “I agree with you to some extent but I believe (that) before the election, all things will be fixed right because Ondo is coming back to APC and we would do all we can.”

When asked what transpired in the meeting with the president, Okorocha said APC governors met with President Buhari and discussed a lot of issues as they affected the nation and its development.

“We came particularly to encourage him and to congratulate him for the release of the 21 Chibok girls and we said whatever was the action taken to bring back these girls, let the action be repeated so that the rest of the girls can be free. This will help because this is a very big achievement in the life of this government.
“Again, we came to report to Mr President that his agriculture policy is producing result. This time around, we have bumper harvest in most parts of the country in rice production and other things. So that policy should be sustained.
“And the funding policy by CBN, the anchor borrowers, should be encouraged because it is yielding results. In the next couple of years, Nigeria would be self-sufficient in agriculture and would not need to import any more food products into this country. That is a great achievement.

“We also encouraged him on the fight against corruption, that he should continue. We know that in the pursuit of good programmes, certain lapses will be noticed and there is nothing wrong in pursuing a good cause. We encouraged and thanked him for the efforts he is making to move this country forward,” the Imo State governor said.

On the call by some stakeholders in the party for the national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, to resign, Okorocha said, “We are not talking about anybody resigning; we are talking about rebuilding the party to make it a stronger party, right from the booth level to the national level.”