Legislature is Empower to Monitor the Executive -Saraki
The issue of accountability and audit is at the heart of the legislative work of any legislature. Never in our history has the duty to observe and perform this role been most heightened in our country than now. This is because of our avowed vision to strengthen our revenue profile even in the face of dwindling oil and gas fortune and the acute need to plug all revenue leakages in the system.
Keeping faith with our legislative agenda, the 8th Senate resolved to pay close attention to revenue generation and remittances and systematically plug all leakages wherever they may be within our public expenditure profile.
In the extractive industry, the 2013 NEITI report before us has provided crucial facts, information and data required by members of this committee to invite relevant stakeholders to give account and up-to-date account of what they have done with public resources entrusted to them with a view to ascertaining whether or not they have individually or collectively conformed with laid down procedures and accomplished the objectives of government.
With a mind-boggling sum amounting to over N1 trillion lost in the extractive sector in 2013 alone; enough to fund key components of the present capital budget, and following the resolution of the Senate on this matter, this committee has been therefore, mandated to fully x-ray this report with a view to determining what went wrong, how and those to blame and recommend for prosecution, the financial loss and leakages to government in all its ramifications, and most importantly provide legislative proposal that would help curb or eliminate this menace in the system. No one, no matter how highly placed should be spared the consequences of their action in this regards.
We note that as a result of plenary action, some federal agencies made pronouncements to swing into action although it came late. However, we will continue to carry out more of such analysis in our oversight and wherever, we see leakages in government coffers, we will go after those involved.
Distinguished Senators, your disposition to this task should be sincere, fearless and thorough as the findings will go a long way in sending a strong message that the legislature still stands as the bastion of democracy and the highest level of representation with both the constitutional and moral duty to monitor and investigate the executive arm of government
REMARK BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, HIS EXCELLENCY, SENATOR (DR.) ABUBAKAR BUKOLA SARAKI, TO DECLARE OPEN THE PUBLIC HEARING ON THE 2013 AUDIT REPORT OF THE NIGERIAN EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE (NEITI), THURSDAY 23 JUNE, 2016
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