The Senate, smarting from the scandals trailing the public hearing by the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market, said its investigation of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) was not meant to generate money for committee members.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, made the clarification in an interview with journalists in Abuja, yesterday.
He also said that it was inappropriate for members to demand funds from the MDAs for such functions as it was an internal responsibility of the National Assembly to provide the needed funds.
The committee chairman noted that on the contrary, standing or ad-hoc committees of the National Assembly were statutorily mandated to carry out investigation of government agencies and other statutory institutions as a means to achieving good governance and also to expose corruption where it existed.
Abaribe said that the rule of engagement for conduct of public hearing did not in any way include sourcing funds outside the National Assembly more so when funds would have been approved for the purpose by the Senate President or Speaker of the House of Representatives as the case may be.
Insisting that the rules of engagement on public hearing were clear, the Senate spokesperson added that the National Assembly could not set out to do a probe for the sake of making money.
“I don’t think that in terms of doing a hearing that people demand for money because our rules are very clear.
“If you are conducting a hearing, the process, of course starts from a plenary session where, by a way of a motion or a bill being proposed, there will be a request by a committee to conduct public hearing.