The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola on Friday,
\ntendered an apology to members of the House of Representatives when he
\nappeared before an ad-hoc committee of the House.<\/p>\n
The apology follows allegations that his comments regarding alterations
\nmade to the 2017 Appropriation Bill by the National Assembly breached the
\nprivileges of the House and sought to incite the Nigeria public against
\nthe legislature.<\/p>\n
The minister, however, said the comments he made were already in the
\npublic domain and could, therefore, be taken as inciting the public
\nagainst the Parliament.<\/p>\n
He also made it clear that it was not his intention to disparage the House
\nand therefore, apologised if any offence was taken.<\/p>\n
\u201cI take the view that saying that which is already a matter of public
\nrecord, is with respect, not an incitement of the public against
\nParliament. My purpose was not to incite the public against parliament and
\nthat is not my way.<\/p>\n
\u201cAllegations that I said that legislators have stark and worrisome
\nknowledge of the budget process; I did not say so of legislators as a
\nwhole. What I said was with respect to the spokesperson who responded to
\nmy interview. I have said that it was not my intention to disparage this
\nHouse, I have said that very much and that if any offence was taken, it
\nwasn\u2019t intended and I apologise for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fashola had through a statement on June 27, expressed concerns over the
\nrecourse of the National Assembly spokespersons to name calling over his
\nobservations on the 2017 budget.<\/p>\n
He said he was worried that the National Assembly spokespersons failed to
\naddress the fundamental points about development, hindering whimsical cuts
\nin the allocations to several vital projects under the Ministry of Power,
\nWorks and Housing as well as other ministries.<\/p>\n
As the controversy lingered and continued to draw reactions from the
\nmasses, the former Lagos State Governor said he was not in a fight with
\nthe National Assembly but only had a mere misunderstanding with them.<\/p>\n
He, therefore, requested that it should not be misconstrued as a personal
\nfight but one geared towards finding best ways to implement the Economic
\nRecovery and Growth Plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola on Friday, tendered an apology to members of the House of Representatives when he appeared before an ad-hoc committee of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n