The governing council of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on the same day it was inaugurated on April 3, suspended 6 directors of the agency. But the affected officials allegedly kicked against the NEMA DG’s contract awards in breach of due process.
Intervening through its 35-member Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness, headed by Ali Isa (Gombe-PDP), the House of Representatives has demanded the immediate recall of the 6 directors saying the Civil Service rule was grossly abused, and natural justice turned upside down in the ways and manners the Directors were placed on suspension.
In what has been declared a daring move, the Committee has summoned Vice President Osinbajo, acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, and Winifred Oyo-Ita, Head of Civil Service of the Federation, to answer for their supposed implicit roles in the suspension of the 6 Directors of NEMA and other scandal relating to the Agency.
Also invited are the representatives of the State Security Service, pension commission, Federal Inland Revenue Service, as well as Ministers of Agriculture, National Planning, and Finance.
The suspended officers are Director of Finance and Accounts, Akinbola Gbolahan; Acting-Director of Special Duties, Umesi Emenike; and Director of Risk Reduction, Alhassan Nuhu.
Others include the pilot in charge of Air Ambulance and Aviation Unit, Mamman Ibrahim; the Chief Maintenance Officer, Ganiyu Deji; and the Director of Welfare, Kanar Mohammed.
In the course of investigation, the committee said it discovered that N3.1 billion was approved and released for the agency by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation for procurement of rice for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Boko Haram-ravaged North-east.
It said the Director-General of the Agency, Mustapha Maihaja, expended the sum on award of contracts to companies with no legal qualifications to get contract from the Federal Government. Two of the companies, Olam Limited, a foreign firm, and Three Brothers Rice Mill, were said to have been awarded huge rice supply contract without meeting the pre-qualification conditions.
It was also discovered that the Chinese government donated 6,779 metric tonnes of rice in June 2017 but a large part of it was abandoned by NEMA for about one year at the ports without clearing. As of today, the lawmakers said, the rice has accumulated about N800 million in port charges.
Mr. Maihaja, while appearing on Thursday before the Committee, admitted that his agency has so far paid N400 million as part of the demurrage. The Committee, however, frowned at NEMA for spending N400 million taxpayers fund on the demurrage on the Rice due to the long delay in clearing the containers.
Mr. Maihaja is expected to report to the committee with relevant documents relating to the rice donation and other allegations at the next hearing. No date was fixed for the next hearing.
Can the National Assembly Summon the Vice President
The National Assembly, or its designated committee, has constitutional powers to summon all government appointees, with lawyers establishing that neither the President nor the Vice President is constitutionally exempted from such summons.
In the Nigerian constitution, it clearly states in section 89(1c) that:
(1) For the purposes of any investigation under section 88 of this Constitutional and subject to the provisions thereof, the Senate or the House of Representatives or a committee appointed in accordance with section 62 of this Constitution shall have power to –(c) summon any person in Nigeria to give evidence at any place or produce any document or other thing in his possession or under his control, and examine him as a witness and require him to produce any document or other thing in his possession or under his control, subject to all just exceptions;
