The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Rivers State, has given the Sole Administrator the State, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd), a 48-hour within which to submit a detailed breakdown of key sectoral allocations in the proposed 2025 budget.
The House was particularly concerned over a bogus and controversial N24 billion earmarked for the installation of Close Circuit Television (CCTV) in the Government House inserted in the budget recently approved by the Senate of the National Assembly.
Hon Julius Ihonvbere (APC, Edo), who is the Chairman of the committee, gave the directive on Monday during a budget defence session just as he expressed serious concerns over several line items in the N1.48 trillion Appropriation Bill.
Ihonvbere, who is also the Majority Leader of the House, said that the committee having gone through the budget as presented by the sole administrator, had so many issues demanding explanations.
He therefore directed Vice Admiral Ibas (retd), to as a matter of necessity, submit the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), which is a legal document that should precede a budget presentation.
Ihonvbere specifically demanded a breakdown of the humongous allocation of N24 billion for CCTV cameras to be installed in the State Government House as well as the allocation of N30 billion for the purchase of gun boats and another N23 billion allocated for contingency reserves.
The House committee chairman said the House demand justification for the various bogus allocations and specifically questioned the allocation of state funds to existing federal project without an agreement with the Federal Government for refunds, among others.
In the words of Ihonvbere; “We need additional details for those allocations. We also request details of the State Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in the last three months to enable us know your financial flows so that we can weigh it against the deficit in the budget in terms of financing it and carrying out some of the projects.
“We also need details of transfers to Local Governments, essentially how Local Government funds that come into the state are being managed at the moment.
“The documents we have requested must reach us within 48 hours. Be rest assured that we are all on the same side in terms of getting Rivers working again.
“We want to ensure that we will promote a lot of accountability and ensure that the interest of the people, no matter how remote they are from the state capital, are protected,” he said.
Earlier in his presentation, Vice Admiral Ibas retd), who was represented by the Senior Special Assistant on Strategy and Policy, Andrew Nweke, said that the administration inherited many of the items in the budget.
He noted that the budget is a reflection of the interest of Rivers people, adding that it was designed in line with needs assessment carried out by implementation agencies.
The sole administrator also said that Rivers had a lot of peculiarities, adding that the N30 billion earmarked for gun boats was to support security agencies in their fight against insecurity on the waterways.
He further said that Rivers is often hit by floods, insecurity and other unforeseen natural circumstances, saying that the N23 billion contingency fund was to address such.
Commenting on the allocation of N24 billion earmarked for CCTV in Government House, Port Harcourt, Ibas said the office of the Governor is that of honour, saying that there was a need to ensure modern technology security surveillance among others.
H however, assured that all documents requested by the House committee will made available for easy legislative process.
