July 2001 Africa News Headlines

Tuesday, July 10, 2001 - Web posted at 10:16:18 AM GMT

Nigerian parliament splitover Obasanjo jet request
TUME AHEMBA

LAGOS - Nigeria's two houses of parliament will meet in joint session today to resolve a budget row sparked by a request from President Olusegun Obasanjo for 5,5 billion naira (US$48,63 million) for a new official jet.

Analysts predict a stormy session because while the Senate wants to vote the money to allow Obasanjo to replace his present plane, the lower House of Representatives insists it should not be a priority.

"It will be a case of insensitivity on our side to inject such a colossal amount of money for the purchase of an aircraft which has no direct bearing on the lives of the Nigerian people," House speaker Umar Ghali Na'Abba told reporters in the northern city of Kano at the weekend."

"The country needs money to reactivate and resuscitate other infrastructure," he said.

The House has ordered its members back from trips abroad and within Nigeria for the joint meeting to discuss Obasanjo's controversial supplementary budget.

It has to reconcile a one billion naira difference in the supplementary appropriation bill approved separately by the Senate and the House of Representatives.

While the senate approved the president's 146 billion naira (US$1,29 billion) request, the house approved only 145 billion naira.

The senate has approved only two billion out of the lower house's request for 3,4 billion to run its affairs, allegedly tying the approval of the balance on the lower house's approval of Obasanjo's jet request.

The session is expected to pass the supplementary appropriation bill with a two-thirds majority vote.

The house has 360 members against the Senate's 109.

Both houses are dominated by the ruling Peoples' Democratic Party.

Jostling between the presidency and lawmakers for constitutional supremacy has largely been responsible for the lack of tangible benefits for ordinary Nigerians since military rule ended, political analysts say.

The lower house, in particular, has been at loggerheads with Obasanjo over constitutional matters since Na'Abba became speaker in 2000.

Obasanjo has made much use of its current official plane in his two years of office, having travelled on it on 53 official state visits. - Nampa-Reuters

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