The Public Accounts Committee, PAC, of the House of Representatives has denied media reports that quoted the Speaker, House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, alleging that the current administration was involved in reckless borrowing and unsubstantiated debt.
A statement issued by the Media Unit of the constitutional Committee of the House of Representatives described the report as inaccurate, misleading and false.
It asserted that speech of the speaker, read by the majority leader of the House, Rep Prof Julius Ihonvbere did not contain anything to suggest either a criticism of Nigeria’s debt profile or raising an alarm about some phantom figures, quoted by few media houses.
The statement, signed by the Media Consultant to the committee, Joshua Afolabi regretted that the robust discussions on ensuring debt sustainability in the West African sub-region has been turned into an avenue for cheap political grandstanding by some individuals and groups who are feasting on an obviously inaccurate reportage.
“From the speech of the Speaker which was recorded by several television, radio and online media, Dr Abbas charged members of the public accounts committee from West African countries who were attending an International conference in Abuja to deepen their oversight of public debt expenditure in order to ensure that there is value for money and adherence to financial regulations in such expenditure.
“The speaker went further to announce a readiness of Nigeria to spearhead the creation of a West African parliamentary framework under the West African Association of Public Accounts Committee, WAAPAC, so as to harmonize debt reporting across the sub-region.
“It is therefore, shocking to read at some sections of the media, inputting strange words and statistics into a speech that was publicly delivered at the opening of the ongoing annual conference and general assembly of the West African Association of Public Accounts Committee.”
The statement further quoted Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Bamidele Salam as urging the broadcast media who covered the event to make available, full video recording of the speaker’s speech to interested persons in order to clear all doubts as regards the content of the speech, read by the House Leader at the opening ceremony of the regional conference, on behalf of the speaker of the House of Representatives.
“For the purpose of emphasis, there was no divergence whatsoever between the positions of the Minister of Finance and coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Wale Edun and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas who both spoke at the event on the sustainable index of Nigeria’s current debt and macro-economic stability which flows from various ongoing reforms in Nigeria’s fiscal space,” the statement stated.
