The House of Representatives Committee on Federal Character has berated the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Arc. Sonny Echono, and officials of the bIndustrial Training Fund (ITF), Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and the National Sugar Development Council (NSCDC) for failing to appear before the committee despite being invited.
Chairman of the committee, Rep. Ahmed Idris Wase, expressed his disappointment with the TETFund boss, saying he failed to turn up even after several invitations.
He said the agencies were taking the committee for granted because they have consistently refused to honour its invitations and that henceforth it would not be tolerated.
Earlier, the TETFund Director of Monitoring and Evaluation, Babatunde Oladeji, informed the committee that the Executive Secretary was away on official leave.
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Wase said the committee would not condone such behaviour by the heads of agencies, adding that they would be sanctioned if they continued to avoid the parliament.
“You are appearing before the House of Representatives Committee and we are not going to take this nonsense any longer.
“This is a house that you should be giving account to. And I don’t know the instrument that gave you the power to operate. The same parliament that gave you the powers, what makes you think that they are useless here?
“We are here on behalf of all Nigerians. We keep writing and you keep neglecting us. Where do you draw your powers from? You are spiting the entire country.
“We cannot let any agency or ministry take us for granted because without us, they don’t exist. It is unacceptable for them to keep disrespecting this committee,” he said.
The lawmaker said apart from the letters sent by the committee, it had also placed adverts in three national dailies.
“I am disappointed with the Executive Secretary of TETFund. He is a former federal permament secretary. I expect him to be more compliant than any other person as he should know the rudiments of civil service better. He chose to neglect it. We would not take it.
“The committee has not been doing its job properly in the past, that is why people think they can do anything and carry on with it. It would not be business as usual.
“This is your last warning. Tell him that the committee is not willing to go the way he thinks. But if he thinks he has the power to do that, then we shall meet at the appropriate point.
“We will make every chief executive accountable. They should not test the will of the committee,” he added.
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