$2.1b arms deal: Saraki blames National Assembly

Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki said yesterday that the ongoing investigation and trial of former National Security Adviser (NSA) Mohammed Sambo Dasuki could have been prevented, if members of the National Assembly were alive to their oversight responsibility.

He added that things would have been done differently, if only members of the National Assembly had taken their oversight functions conscientiously.

The Senate President, who spoke after senators’ contributions on a motion on abandoned projects, noted that the rot being uncovered in the office of the former NSA would have been exposed if members of the National Assembly did not shy away from their oversight functions.

He added that the mind-boggling revelations have brought the oversight function of the National Assembly to question.

He sought immediate change of attitude by Senate committees on their oversight functions.

Saraki said: “I think we have shied away today from one of the main reasons (abandoned projects) because some of the projects are duly appropriated in the budget and embarked upon by various ministries and agencies.

“The motion whether we like it or not is a partial indictment on us in the National Assembly and we must accept that because these projects that we are talking about under Section 88 of the Constitution, 1(a) (b) it is our responsibility to oversight these projects to ensure they are not abandoned and to ensure that the funds appropriated are properly used.

“So distinguished colleagues, I want us  in this Eighth Senate to ensure that our committees carry out proper oversight and we the leadership, we are going to ensure that we too find a way to make sure that committees do their work on oversight because truly that is the bottom line to this.

“Even the current investigation going on in the National Security Adviser’s Office also whether we like it or not in a way too again, the oversight function of the National Assembly is brought to question.”

Senator Suleiman Nazif (Bauchi North), who sponsored the motion in his lead debate, noted that there were about 11,886 abandoned projects that would cost an estimated N7.78 trillion to complete.

Nazif observed that public infrastructure account for most of the abandoned projects and that those projects were generally awarded based on considerations given to friends, even when they did not possess any technical knowledge about the project.