Governor Rotimi Amaechi
Onwuka Nzeshi
The House of Representatives Tuesday condemned the alleged grounding of a Bombardier B700 Global Express private jet belonging to the Rivers State Government by the National Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) at the weekend.
The lawmakers who deliberated on the incident as a matter of urgent public importance, passed a resolution mandating its Committees on Justice and Aviation to investigate the circumstances leading to the incident.
The two committees have been asked to conduct an extensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding the grounding of the aircraft and report back to the House within two weeks.
The matter came up for debate following a motion sponsored by Hon. Ahmed Idris, representing Wase federal constituency of Plateau State.
In the lead debate, Idris argued that the incident had raised serious issues of abuse of powers by the executive and the use of state machinery against perceived political opponents. Idris, who is also the Chairman of the House Committee on Federal Character, said the action of the agency smacked of impunity, lawlessness and political vendetta.
The lawmaker criticised the executive arm for taking an action it considered as detrimental to democracy and tended to portray Nigeria as a dictatorship with draconian tendencies typical of the military era.
It would be recalled that the regulatory authorities in the aviation sector grounded the aircraft last week for alleged non-compliance with the aviation regulations as regards the registration of the aircraft and that the operating license granted the aircraft had expired.
Also Tuesday, the House mandated its Joint Committee on Judiciary and Justice to convene a stakeholders’ meeting within two weeks to investigate delays associated with accessing funds of deceased persons by their named beneficiaries
.
The resolution followed a motion sponsored by Hon. Abiodun Abudu-Balogun on the need to stop the pains next of kins usually go through in a bid to access funds belonging to their benefactors.
Although official figures put the funds of deceased persons lying in Nigerian Banks at N100 billion, the funds are estimated to be between N400 billion and N1 trillion, according to unofficial sources.
Abudu- Balogun accused the banks of trading with these funds and employing all sorts of tactics to delay their collection by the beneficiaries of the deceased persons.
“Anytime the beneficiaries show up to access the funds as the next of kin to the deceased, the banks usually place official and unofficial hurdles to frustrate them. The process of obtaining letters of administration by such bereaved families at probate divisions of state and federal high courts was very cumbersome and corruption-ridden, thereby adding to the frustration of the already traumatized beneficiaries,”he said.
The lawmaker disclosed that even the beneficiaries of bereaved contributors to the new Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) are not left out as they are being frustrated whenever they make claims for their entitlement.
He said that the inability of these beneficiaries to access the funds of their deceased breadwinners could discourage people from saving with the banks and may lead to the collapse in the saving culture in Nigeria.
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