THE Senate is set to investigate the circumstances that led to the problems in pension administration in the country.Besides, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Peter Orubebe, and visiting members of the House of RepsCommitteeon Niger Delta, yesterday decried what they called the meager budgetary allocation made to the ministry by the President for the 2012 fiscal year.Theinvestigation is to be carried out by the Senate's joint committee on Establishment and Public Service, and States and Local Government Affairs . The joint committeeheaded bySenator Aloysius Etuk at a press conference in the National Assembly yesterday assured that the investigation which would take them to the six geopolitical zones of the country would leave no stone unturned in ensuring that that all obstacles to smooth operation of the pension scheme would be removed .Etuk, who was accompanied by his counterpart in the Local Government Affairs Committee, Senator Kabiru Gaya, admitted that there were questions yearning for answers in the administration and management of pension in the country.He was tight-lipped on the amount of pension fund hanging in the Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN] due to some administrative lapses but The Guardian learnt that it is about N700 billion.One of the major problems, he noted, was the failure of some Ministries, Departments and Agencies' [MDAs] to send pensioners' schedules and data to the Pension Commission with necessary information to credit pensioners account to the Central Bank.'For the purpose of wider consultation and reach to all stakeholders, the committee shall conduct public hearing at the six geo-political zones of Nigeria including the Federal Capital Territory', Etuk said.The hearing is scheduled to hold in Abuja, Lagos, Gombe, Akwa Ibom, Kano and Enugu States.The joint committee was set up early November to carry out a comprehensive investigation into the management and administration of pension funds as well as the payment of pensioners in the country following a motion on their plight .Also, the House of Representatives has begun moves to give effect to the creation of the contingency fund as provided for in the 1999 constitution as amended.Accordingly it yesterday approved a bill to that effect for second reading and directed its Committee on Finance to reprocess the bill and submit it for final approval.The sponsor of the bill, Leo Ogor, said it was meant to reinforce Section 83 and discourage excesses or manipulation of the constitution in the use of the funds.The N59.72 billion allocated to the Ministry of the Niger Delta in the 2012 budget which was recently submitted to the National Assembly, was said to be too meager for timely execution of development in the region.Speaking during the oversight visit of the House Committee, Orubebe, had referred to the allocation as'grossly inadequate and dwindling', and had asked that five per cent of funds accruing from increased oil production in the region be used to augment development in the area.According to him, the amnesty programme, under the ministry had shored up oil output in the Niger Delta from an all-time low of 700,000 barrels per day to 2.6 million barrels per day.He also expressed concern that laudable economic empowerment programmes that were highly desirable for the development of the once neglected region were marred by the continuous shortfalls of the ministry's appropriation and releases.He added that not less than 25 ongoing community projects designed to hook the region to the national grid, would be discontinued, due to never ending shortfalls in the money released for the actualisation of the planned development of the region.Orubebe appealed to relevant authorities to as a matter of urgency, provide a corridor for real funding for intervention projects.Giving a breakdown of his ministry's attainment with regard to their mandate in the nine Niger Delta states, he posited that the East- West road project inherited from the Ministry of Works at less than 10 per cent completion now stood at 48 per cent completion.Other achievements, according to him are, 32 per cent completion of skill acquisition centres, 55 per cent completion of housing units project, creation of 7,000 jobs which has enhanced local content policy of government, 71 per cent completion of land reclamation job, 50 per cent completion of erosion control project among others.The lawmakers, led by Warman Ogoriba, Chairman of the Committee, decried the low allocation to the ministry. Describing the ministry's allocation as a new threat to the relative peace in the region, they maintained that unless the executive took a second look at the issue of meagre budgetary allocation for critical projects in the area, the quest for lasting peace in the region might be elusive.
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