By Gabriel Enogholase
BENIN—EDO State House of Assembly has directed its House Committee on Appropriation and Judiciary not to peruse the 2010 budget proposal meant for the State Ministry of Justice until its Commissioner, Dr. Osagie Obayuwana, presents the performance of the Ministry’s 2009 budget  to it.

Speaker of the House, Mr. Zakawanu Garuba, gave the directive in Benin yesterday during the sitting of the legislature, sequel to the failure of the commissioner to honour the invitation of the House to present his Ministry’s 2009 budget performance.

Describing the action of the commissioner as an affront on the integrity of the lawmakers, the speaker noted that the commissioner had on two occasions failed to honour the invitation of the House  to defend the   performance of his Ministry’s budget for the 2009 fiscal year.

His words: “What we would do is that those members who are in the Committee of Appropriation and Judiciary should not take his 2010 budget until he presents his brief.”

And he would now tell us when he is ready to present his brief and we would take it. But before then his budget would not be considered.”

In a related development, the brief by the Commissioner for Education, Dr. Ngozi Osarenren, was rejected by the House for allegedly overshooting the 2009 budget allocated to her ministry.

The Commissioner was alleged to have expended the sum of N2,757,087.23 billion as against the sum of N2,021,500.000 billion allocated for capital budget with a surplus expenditure of over N735 million.

Attempts made by her to get the legislature’s approval to withdraw pages 10 and 11 which contained conflicting reports met with brick wall.

She was however given one week to perfect her report.