Chris Ngige
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige has threatened to sue Abiodun James Faleke, Chairman of the House of Representatives on Finance, over claims of inserting N2 billion projects in the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) 2020 budget.
Chris Ngige said Falake was either being “mischievous or ignorant of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) Act or both”, he continued in saying that Faleke was abusing “parliamentary privilege”. The minister said Faleke was ignorant of the fact that Ministers can not increase the budget because the National Assembly gave the final product. He also said, he was ready to challenge the legislator in the court of law.
His statement read;
”It is instructive here to note that ministers do not award contracts. They neither sit in the Ministerial Tenders Board nor Tenders Board of parastatals.
“Even, the Ministry of Labour’s representatives on the NSITF mainboard is not part of the tenders board of that parastatal. So, how, when and where did the minister sit in that board to choose, much less pad the budget?
“It is therefore easy to attribute Falake’s motion on the floor of the House on Tuesday to consummate parliamentary mischief or outright ignorance of the BPP Act or both.
“If Faleke is desperately clutching a straw on behalf of his constituents, he must definitely grow bigger than his infantile approach.
Ngige was unhappy at the fact that Faleke dragged his wife, who is the permanent secretary in Service Welfare Office in the Office of the Head Of Service of the Federation, into political issues.
He warned for his family to be left out of their issues especially his wife who was just innocently dispensing her duties as a civil servant.
”Faleke also brought my wife into everything. My wife is a civil servant. She is a permanent secretary in Service Welfare in the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation. I didn’t see any circular that they sent from that office so I don’t know what they mean”