A Joint Committee of the National Assembly
on Petroleum Resources Downstream has called for the scraping of the
Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme(SURE-P) alleging that the
agency is duplicating activities being carried out by the existing
Ministries, Departments and government agencies in the country.
The Joint committee came hard on the
Presidential committee on Subsidy Reinvestment headed by
Christopher Kolade when it appeared before it to defend the
2013 budget proposal at the National Assembly in Abuja. The Chairman of
the SURE-P,Christopher Kolade had told the lawmakers that 135 billion
naira was accrued to the agency up till the end of October, 2012
and the money has been channelled into construction of abandoned
road projects,health care and skills acquisation programme.
Meanwhile, lawmakers disagreed with the Chairman of
the agency saying that the task executed by the SURE-P has already
been executed by the existing the Ministries adding that with the advent
of the SURE-P it is an indication that the Federal government has lost
confidence in its main Ministries.
Speaking on the matter, a member of the House of
Representatives, Peter Akpatason queried the SURE-P for not utilizing the funds
to revitalize dead refineries in the country which will benefit Nigerians
instead of wasting it on less important ventures.
In his response, Chairman of the SURE-P
Committee, Christopher Kolade said it is not the duty of the National
Assembly to decide the fate of the program, noting that the power is vested
only on the Presidency whether the Program will remain or not.
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