Reps may probe minister over N120m wedding party.

Reps may probe minister over N120m wedding party, - I didn’t spend such amount - Minister
Bola Badmus, Leon Usigbe and Clement Idoko, Abuja
Tuesday, July 14, 2009

AGAINST the mounting criticisms of the conduct of the Minister of Education, Dr. Sam Egwu, in organising a lavish party to mark his 25th wedding anniversary, the House of Representatives is billed to debate a motion calling for the probe of the minister for allegedly expending the sum of N120 million on the said celebration.

Also, the motion is seeking to probe heads of tertiary institutions under the Federal Ministry of Education who participated in the celebration.

The motion, which has already been filed with the House Committee on Rules and Business, is sponsored by the Chairman of the House Committee on Air Force, Honourable Halims Agoda, and will be debated this week.

The House agreed to debate the motion, following its introduction last week by its sponsor, Honourable Agoda, under Matters of Urgent National Importance.

Following the adoption, Speaker ‘Dimeji Bankole had directed that the motion be routed through the normal channel for debate during the next legislative day.

The motion has three prayers, including “a mandate for the House Committee on Education, in exercise of its responsibility, to thoroughly inquire into the sources of the stupendous N120 million reportedly lavished by the minister on the celebration of the 25th anniversary of his marriage.

“The committee was to further look into the sources of fund used by various university administrators, provosts of colleges of education, rectors of polytechnics and heads of parastatal agencies of the Federal Ministry of Education, who attended the wedding anniversary, in terms of expenses on transportation, travelling basic allowances and other logistics, including media coverage and recommend appropriate action to the House of Representatives,” the motion stated.

Also, the motion demanded an immediate and unconditional public apology from the minister “to Nigerian university students and their parents and guardians for conducting himself in a manner suggestive of contemptuous disregard for the current plight of Nigerian students.”

It is also asking the lawmakers to call on President Umaru Yar’Adua to “re-engineer his cabinet in order to give purposeful leadership to the country by cautioning his appointees whose conduct, actions or inaction portend a frontal onslaught on the sensibilities of the Nigerian people.”

The motion noted the seeming unending strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and its crippling effects on academic activities and regretted that the often cited cause of the strike was the alleged refusal or failure of government to sign a mutually negotiated agreement reached with ASUU three years ago.

According to the motion, the minister of education ought to proffer immediate and workable solutions to any industrial action in the education sector that could result in the collapse of the academic calendar of the universities.

The motion, therefore, lamented that “without due regard for this basic fundamental of the responsibility of the Education Minister, Dr. Sam Egwu, in a brazen show of contempt, insensitivity and a breach of acceptable social values, rather than get himself concerned with and involved in getting our universities re-opened, felt that it would serve greater public interest to tell Nigerians that his marriage is 25 years old with lavish celebrations.”

While they contended that Dr. Egwu “is entitled to luxuriate and sing praises to God for his 25 years, in the current challenges of his public service to the nation as the education minister,” it noted that, at a time, the universities were in a crisis, he should have exercise caution in “social frolic and solve the Federal Government/ASUU debacle.”

It will be recalled that opposition parties and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have already called for the sack of the minister over what they noted as his insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians.

Reacting, the chief press secretary to the minister, Mr. Alphonsus Okoroafor, said he was not aware that a sum of N120 million was expended on the said party, declaring that the allegation was unfounded, as he noted that the celebration was completely a private affair.

He declared that no parastatal agency or body under the ministry was made to contribute towards the event, adding that there was a circular by the ministry barring such bodies from making donations or contributions in that regard.