Reps okay Jonathan's N98.4 bn virement request for 9 MDAs

The House of Representatives, onWednesday, approved the request by President Goodluck Jonathan to the National Assembly on the proposed virement of about N98.4billion in the 2011 budget for the second reading.The virement proposal by the president had suffered a set- back on October 13 in the House when it was presented by the House leader, Honourable Mulikat Adeola-Akande, as most of the lawmakers kicked against the request.It took the intervention of the Deputy Speaker, Honourable Emeka Ihedioha, who presided over the plenary session that day, to prevent the angry members from throwing the request away as he was forced to stood down the bill after members raised serious reservations on the bill and were ready to vote against it.The President in his letter had adduced that, "it is my hope that the virement proposals will go a long way in addressing some of the difficulties being encountered in the implementation of the 2011 budget and give focus to some of the key priorities of government".Meanwhile,the House of Representatives had expresssed concern over the misappropriation of over N54billion earmarked for the execution of constituency projects by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) under the Office of the Presidency in the 2008 and 2009 Appropriation Acts.The House queried how out of the sum of N54 billion earmarked for the execution of the projects, over N25 billion was spent on consultancy and renting of warehouse.reservation after proper scrunity of the documents presented by Dr Gbenol and kicked against the shoddy way the various projects were being executed by the MDGs office across the country.The chairman of the committee said that the meeting became imperative as a result of the discouraging level of constituency projects across the country.
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