Reps to stop probes - Bankole

Sulaimon Olanrewaju, Lagos - 05.05.2008

RESPITE came the way of key players in many sectors of the economy at the weekend as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Dimeji Bankole, announced that the House would not probe other sectors of the economy after concluding the ongoing probe.

The House of Representatives probe of power and oil sectors threw up some shocking revelations which have put many notable Nigerians on the spot. Bankole, speaking at a roundtable conference in Lagos on “Policy Formulation and Business Environment: Making it work,” premised the position of the House not to engage in further probe of other sectors on two factors.

“You cannot do that without overheating the polity. So, we are not going to bring instability in the course of looking for stability. This House will not do that,” he said. The other factor, according to him, was that the House lacked the capacity to go after all the sectors.
“We sincerely do not have the capacity to go after all the sectors that the seven-point agenda wants to address.”

The speaker said the probe by the House was not targeted at individuals but to ensure that President Umaru Yar’Adua’s seven-point agenda did not become a mirage.

“We want the success of the President’s seven-point agenda; that is why we started the probe. If we do not ask the right questions, we can’t expect things to change. That is why the House has been asking questions so that we don’t repeat mistakes of the past,” he said.

Speaking on constitution amendment, Honourable Bankole said the House members would not travel across the country to get the views of people on the expected amendment.

“There is a process in the current constituion on how we should ammend the constitution. “We don’t need to be travelling to Sokoto, Enugu, Lagos or Borno, overheating the system in the name of constitution amendment. There is a process. All we have to do is just to follow that process to get the all-important desire out,” he said.