The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal yesterday read the riot Act to all chairmen of 89 standing committees of the House for failing to submit 2012 budget reports of ministries, departments and agencies of government to the Appropriation committee.
The House had adjourned plenary for previous week to enable committees concentrate on conducting budget defence sessions with the various bodies they oversight but upon resumption yesterday, no report was ready for submission.
Upon resumption of plenary yesterday, the speaker asked the Appropriation committee chairman, Hon John Enoh,? about progress on the budget, to which he responded that no report had been received from any committee.
Irked by the development, Tambuwal,??? said, “We cannot continue to keep the nation waiting, it is our responsibility to do that”, adding that any committee which fails to submit its report in time will forfeit its power to make input in the budget to the Appropriations committee.
Also in the plenary, the House moved to abolish the existing National Health Insurance Scheme and establish a National Health Insurance Commission in its stead.
The lawmakers made this move when it scaled a bill seeking to repeal the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Act and re-enact the National Health Insurance Commission Bill through second reading.