The Kaduna State House of Assembly has passed a vote of no confidence on the Commissioner for Water Resources, Mr John Ayuba, over poor implementation of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P).
Ayuba was the commissioner of finance responsible for the SURE-P implementation before his recent deployment to water resources in a cabinet reshuffle.
The assembly at its sitting on Tuesday presided by the Speaker, Mu’azu Gangara accused the commissioner of failing to properly account for the money spent on the programme.
The assembly, which adopted the report of its Ad-Hoc Committee that investigated the SURE-P implementation also berated the former finance commissioner for failing to provide expenditure details on how the money was spent.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recall that the House had on May 23, 2013 mandated the ad-hoc committee under Mr Kantiok Ishaku, to carry out full investigation on the programme.
Submitting the report, Ishaku said that the committee was unable to trace the money received by the state government for the SURE-P between January and April 2012.
According to him, there was also no detail on how another N560 million received by the government for the programme was utilised.
He said the committee was, however, able to determine a total of N2.24 billion that accrued to the state between May and December 2012 for the programme.
Ishaku said out of the amount, N903,9 million was expended on the procurement of 700 Tri-cycles, 40 taxi cabs, 35 mini buses and 15 luxury buses.
The committee also berated the ministry of finance for ignoring due process in the utilisation of the funds.
It cited the inflation of the contract for the purchase of taxi cabs from N2.88 million per unit to N3.23 million, while contract for the supply of tri-cycles was paid 100 per cent up front without the approval of the Due Process Office.
To avert some of the infractions, the committee recommended the immediate opening of dedicated bank account for the SURE-P funds and the appointment of a standing committee of responsible citizens, to handle the programme.
After exhaustive discussions, the members unanimously adopted the recommendations, and the Speaker directed the Clerk of the assembly to write to Gov. Mukhtar Yero on the resolution.