China loans: Reps fire back at member over beyond-mandate comment

The House of Representatives Committee on Treaties, Agreements and Protocols, has described recent statement credited to a member of the House, Hon. Wole Oke, that the panel’s investigation of bilateral loans taken by Nigeria from China was outside its mandate as false, unparliamentary and unpatriotic.

Oke, who is chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts was quoted in a recent media interview to have accused the Hon. Nicholas Osai-led panel on treaties and related agreements of going beyond its mandate, especially on its investigation of about $500 million loans from China.

 But the Osai committee in a reaction statement made public on Tuesday, said Oke’s assertion “does not in any way reflect the trueness of the committee’s mandate and productive outcomes recorded through its legislative oversight engagements on the subject matter.”

It said: “The chairman (Osai) will like to clarify that Hon. Wole  Oke is not a member of the House Committee on Treaties, Protocols and Agreements; and thus may not be well acquainted with the mandate of the committee with respect to the on-going public hearing on the bilateral agreements between Nigeria and China, including the unique oversight technique adopted by the committee to achieve its goals”.

The statement also recalled that the specific  mandates of the committee with respect to the current public hearing  was pursuant to House Resolution no (87/09/2019) vide a Motion on “Transmission of all Treaties and Bilateral/Contractual Agreements by all Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to the National Assembly”, wherein the House resolved to call on the MDAs to transmit all signed, ratified and domesticated treaties and other international agreements both bilateral and multilateral to the Registrar of Treaties in the Federal Ministry of Justice and to the National Assembly;

“Call on the Registrar of Treaties in the Federal Ministry of Justice to transmit the list of all ratified and domesticated Treaties and International Agreements to the National Assembly for further legislative action.

“Urge the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to ensure that all signed treaties are presented to the National Assembly for domestication;, and also  urge the president to ensure early engagement and involvement of the National Assembly in the Negotiation Team of any Treaty and International Agreements to which Nigeria is interested.

“Urge the president to ensure that all signed Treaties and other International Agreements are initiated and presented to the National Assembly as an Executive Bill and to stop all counterparts funding of all Agreements and Protocols with Financial implications until such Agreements and Protocols are domesticated by the National Assembly.”

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