BEVERLY HILLS, February 11, (THEWILL) – THEWILL has gathered that there was a sharp division among members of the House of Representatives on Thursday over the Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi.
Amaechi had appeared before the joint Committee on Marine/Land Transport to defend the 2016 budget proposals of his ministry, but was said to have been harassed, by members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), during his briefing, with a barrage of questions.
In his defense, members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who felt that the former Governor of Rivers State deserved some protection, complained that too many questions were being thrown at the minister for political reasons.
The PDP members, led by Mr. Pat Asadu (Enugu State) and Mr. Nnana Igbokwe (Imo State) got angry, arguing that the minister could be asked any questions under their constitutional duties.
However, the briefing was allowed to continue as the Committee on Aviation rejected a proposal by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority to spend N130m on a security audit of the nation’s airports.
Chairperson of the committee, Mrs. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, recalled that in 2015, a similar proposal was submitted by the agency which was rejected.
“I can see you people have brought this matter of security audit again, and I remember querying it last year. How can you spend this much on the airports even when 22 out of the 32 airports are shut down with no operation going on whatsoever?” she queried.
Story by David Oputah
