Senate Okays FG’s N148.14bn Refund To Ondo, Osun, Others

The Senate on Tuesday approved the request of President Muhammadu Buhari’, seeking a refund of N148,141,969,161.24 to Ondo, Osun, Rivers, Bayelsa, and Cross River states.

The amount was meant for projects they executed on behalf of the Federal Government.

The approval was sequel to the consideration of a report by the Committee on Local and Foreign Debts led by Senator Clifford Ordia.

Ordia in his presentation stated that most of the federal highways in the beneficiary states where the projects were executed ‘were in a deplorable state before the intervention of the state governments’.

He said, “Series of visits were carried out by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing on all Federal Roads completed by the States and ascertained that the quality off work done met the required standard.”

The lawmaker however noted that states like Cross River, Rivers, Bayelsa and Ondo States embarked on the highway projects execution as far back as 2005 to date.

He added that while the state governments had completed all projects as well as paid all contractors, the Bureau of Public Procurement on its part certified that due process was followed accordingly.

Meanwhile, the Senate on Tuesday confirmed the nomination of Benedict Umeano (Anambra – South East); Ehiozuwa Johnson Agbonayinma (Edo – South South); and Olayinka Babatunde Balogun retd (Ogun – South West) as members of the Code of Conduct Bureau.

The confirmation of the nominees followed the consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.

In a related development, the upper chamber on Tuesday referred Buhari’s request seeking the confirmation of nominees to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission Tribunal to its Committee on Trade and Investment.