{"id":8837,"date":"2013-08-22T23:40:05","date_gmt":"2013-08-22T23:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigerian-newspapers\/jumbo-pay-were-ready-for-probe-reps-reply-ezekwesili\/"},"modified":"2013-08-22T23:40:05","modified_gmt":"2013-08-22T23:40:05","slug":"jumbo-pay-were-ready-for-probe-reps-reply-ezekwesili","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/jumbo-pay-were-ready-for-probe-reps-reply-ezekwesili\/","title":{"rendered":"Jumbo pay: We\u2019re ready for probe, Reps reply Ezekwesili"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The House of Representatives has embraced the challenge to defend the National Assembly of allegations that the country spends an average of N1trillion yearly on federal lawmakers.<\/p>\n

Former Education Minister, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, had at a forum a few days ago, alleged that the National Assembly alone was spending a trillion naira of the country\u2019s resources, echoing an earlier report that Nigeria\u2019s lawmakers are the highest paid in the world.<\/p>\n

The former vice-president of the World Bank even challenged the lawmakers to a public hearing on her allegations.<\/p>\n

The Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Publicity, Hon. Afam Ogene, in a statement issued yesterday, accepted Ezekwesili\u2019s challenge, saying the lawmakers are ready for a public hearing to debunk what he said are lies against the legislators. He said the ex-minister was merely seeking attention by peddling lies.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThere appears to be no let-up in the crave by former Education Minister, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, to get back into national consciousness, simply by randomly throwing pot shots anchored on misplaced aggression, in the ardent hope that such mudslinging would elevate her to the status of a moral crusader.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an institution, we ought not to be responding to the tirades of Mrs. Ezekwesili, especially as they are anchored on wrong deployment of figures, weird generalizations and outright falsehood.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs elected representatives, we owe it a duty to the Nigerian people to always seek to conduct our affairs in an atmosphere of openness, candor and a fidelity to the truth.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndeed, if there is any point we are agreed upon with Mrs. Ezekwesili, or anyone else for that matter, it is the promotion of transparency in governance and ensuring that democratic institutions of state, function optimally for the benefit of all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hon. Ogene said the former minister was simply haunted by the fact that she was no longer holding public office.<\/p>\n

He challenged her to provide evidence of her latest allegations and earlier ones. He also called attention to the ex-minister\u2019s selective review of government spending by leaving out the Presidency and the Judiciary.<\/p>\n

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Posted in Nigerian Newspapers. <\/a>A DisNaija.Com<\/a> network.<\/p>\n

Source: National Mirror Newspaper<\/p>\n

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