Budget defence: Senate goes tough on humanitarian minister Sadiya Farouq
– Yahaya said the Senate committee would not tolerate the unruly behaviour by two special advisers to the minister
The ninth Senate on Friday, October 25, sent the minister of humanitarian affairs and disaster management, Sadiya Farouq, away from defending the 2020 budget for the ministry. At the defence, the chairman of the committee on poverty alleviation, Lawan Yahaya, said Farouq was denied the opportunity to defend the ministry’s budget because of the failure to provide copies of the 2019 budget to the Senate.
Yahaya said, the Senate committee would not tolerate the unruly behaviour by two special advisers to the minister at the defence.
He said: “Honourable Minister, we know you are new but the two SAs knew very well that the 2019 budget must be presented before 2020.” Also stating the team from the ministry were not forced to appear before the Senate, Yahaya warned that all the budget documents must be available to the committee on the appointed date. “I apologised to the minister because she is new but for the two SAs, I have no apology,” Yahaya added. Also responding, Farouq apologised on behalf of her special advisers to the Senate committee. The minister said: “The hard copy of the 2020 budget submitted earlier was attached with a flash drive that contains the 2019 budget.”
