It’s wrong to seek financial assistance for hearing – Senate

The Senate has frowned on committees to seeking financial assistance from agencies under their supervision to conduct public hearings or any of other legislative business.
Spokesman for the Senate, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said in Abuja on Thursday that the Senate and the House of Representatives had rules ensuring that financial provisions were made for the conduct of public hearings.
He however said it would not be unethical if agencies of government assist the committees of the National Assembly to build capacities in the areas where they oversight.
Abaribe’s reaction was against the backdrop of the bribe-for-probe scandal involving the House Committee on the Capital Market and the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Arunma Oteh.
The lawmaker said, “I don’t think that in terms of doing a hearing, people demand assistance because our rules are very clear. If you are conducting a hearing, the process starts from the plenary, where by way of a motion or bill being proposed, there would be a request for a committee to conduct a hearing.
“When that happens and the committee is informed by the Clerk, usually the committee will articulate what the budget will be and submit to the Principal Officer of the Senate or the House, and the Principal Officer will normally approve that budget for the hearing.
“When that budget is approved, the Clerk of that committee will go and collect the funds for the hearing, because the Clerk of the committee is the accounting officer when it comes to hearing.
Source