Members of the House of Representatives Committee on the Federal Capital Territory on Monday approved the request of President Goodluck Jonathan to vire N940.7m in the 2011 capital budget of the Federal Capital Territory ministry.The legislators, however, endorsed the budget without scrutinising the details at a meeting that lasted barely 30 minutes.As soon as the Minister of the FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed, concluded his presentation to the committee, some lawmakers started saying that it was a straight budget.Mohammed had appealed for the approval of the proposal, saying that key projects in the 2011 budget were about to be stalled due to lack of funds.If the virement proposal is approved, we will be able to finish most of the capital projects in the 2011 appropriation, he said.The Chairman of the committee, Mr. Emmanuel Jime, had emphasised the need for the ministry to ensure that funds for the budget were accessed.If the funds are not accessed, the whole exercise of the virement will be a waste, he noted.However, the committee later held a closed-door meeting with the minister at Jimes office. The closed-door session lasted for over one hour and the details were not made public.The FCT budget was part of the total N98.4bn virement request, which President Goodluck Jonathan sent to the National Assembly in October for selected ministries and agencies.Among the benefiting ministries was that of the Niger Delta, which got over N30bn.Mondays hasty approval of the FCT budget came barely six days after the House in plenary read Jonathans request for the second time and refereed it to the Committee on Appropriations and other sub-committees for detailed consideration.The same House had earlier opposed the Presidents request on October 13, only to make a U-Turn last Wednesday to read the request for the second time.Part of Jonathans letter conveying the request to the House read, 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.The approval of the N98.4bn for second reading last week came amid speculations that the Presidency had allegedly passed the sum of N2bn to the legislators to weaken the opposition against the passage of the request.Each of the 360 members of the House was alleged to have taken at least N5m from the N2bn, which was said to have been delivered in cash.But the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, had denied the allegation, describing it as speculations that have no justification.Mohammed added, If a member thinks that he has collected (the money), let him own up.
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