There was chaos at the house of representatives on Wednesday over a bill seeking to raise the ways and means cash advances from five percent to 10 percent.
Opposition parties staged a walk out during plenary after an amendment by Kingsley Chinda, the minority leader, that the ways and means be reduced to two percent was rejected.
The existing law provides that the advance by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) must not exceed five percent of the previous year’s revenue of the federal government.
Chinda moved the amendment during the consideration of the report on the bill at the committee of the whole, saying this will enhance transparency in federal government spending.
The report proposed raising the ways and means advances from the existing five percent to 15 percent.
James Faleka, chairman of the committee on finance, opposed Chinda’s amendment, urging the house not to go below the five percent in the act.
Ibrahim Isiaka, a lawmaker from Ogun state, supported Faleke’s position, proposing that it should be raised from five percent to 10 percent.
Idris Wase, a former deputy speaker, moved a motion for an amendment that 10 percent should be maintained.
When Benjamin Kalu, the deputy speaker and presiding officer, called for a voice vote on Wase’s amendment motion, the “nays” were louder than the “ayes,” but he ruled in favour of the “ayes.”
This provoked the lawmakers, who loudly expressed their dissent with a repeated “no”. Letter the opposition lawmaker led by Chinda, walked out of plenary.
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