Senate Canvasses Pay Cut For Jonathan, Others …As Mark Hails Appeal Court’s Verdict

The campaign for pay slash for all public servants earlier canvassed by the National Assembly would be reflected in the output of the 2012 budget..

The Senate has insisted that the Executive must ensure that this is reflected in the 2012 Appropriation Bill being expected in the National Assembly.

The Upper House has also reiterated its commitment to Nigerians on the probe on the sale of government-owned companies by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE ) as it will make public the names of all those that may be indicted in the investigation.

These were revealed by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, while briefing newsmen, Monday

Senator Abaribe said the presidency was expected to honour the earlier understanding that public servants’ pay be cut to reduce the cost of government in all the three arms.

Abaribe, who also spoke on the reported N50billion slash in the proposed 2012 budget of the National Assembly noted that other arms of government should emulate the National Assembly which slashed its overhead cost in the 2011 budget.

His words, “Until we see the budget, we will not know what has been done; but one thing is certain, we have reached a consensus between the executive and legislature that the cost of running the government is too high and that there will be a need to cut down the cost of government and I think that, that will be the general trend in this particular budget. So, we are looking forward to seeing the budget and how much has been cut in terms of running the government.”

On the BPE probe report, Senator Abaribe said the allegation that the matter had been swept under the carpet was false.

According to Senator Abaribe, the committee led by Senator Ahmed Lawan was granted extra time to undertake a tour of  all the privatised firms to ascertain the veracity of the claims by stakeholders at the public hearing.

“In a very short while, the report will be out. I promise you that the report will not be buried. No report that will come out of the Senate will be buried. It will be brought out and it will be open to the public because we want to ensure that we have good governance in Nigeria and the only way you can do that is to be sure that whatever you find out is not buried,” he said.

Meanwhile, Senate President, Senator David Mark, has congratulated President Goodluck Jonathan on his victory at the Appeal court, Monday and urged the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) to take the court’s verdict in good faith.

Senator Mark noted that the verdict represented the wishes of the Nigerian people as expressed in the April presidential election.

According to Mark, “this victory will further spur President Jonathan to consolidate on his transformation achievement”.

He has also reinstated his commitment to the cause of executive/ legislative relations in the overall interest of the entire Nigerian people.

Nneka Amaechi-Nnadi, Abuja