By Okey Ndiribe & Emman Ovuakporie

ABUJA—MEMBERS of the House of Representatives, yesterday, summoned the Director-General, Budget Office,  Mr. Bright Okogwu, to appear before  House Committees on Appropriation and Finance to explain the content of the letter he allegedly sent to  Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government, MDAs, to wait for the amended version of the 2013 Appropriation Act before implementation.

Okogwu drew the wrath of the legislators for allegedly usurping legislative powers via his purported letter instructing MDAs to discountenance the Appropriation Act passed by both Houses of the National Assembly.

The legislators were further irked as government functionaries were instead allegedly  asked to work on proposed amendments which had not even been brought to the National Assembly for ratification or approval.

Mr. Samson Osagie, the Minority Whip of the House, representing Edo State, in a motion he brought to the floor of the House, tagged: Threat of breach of the 2013 Appropriation Act by functionaries of  the Executive arm of Government, informed members that he was in possession of a letter to this effect allegedly written by the Director of  Budget Office.

He said: “We must sound a note of warning here that no proposed amended budget shall be implemented by the MDAs, other than what was passed by the National Assembly and assented to by the President.”

He called on all standing committees to sit up while watching those that might attempt to put aside the 2013 budget.

Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, representing Lagos,  stressed that  it was time to “put a stop to issues like this.”