… as Lawmakers express displeasure, threatens further legislative action
By Mfonobong Ukpong
From the look of things, the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly and the Commissioner incharge of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mrs. Offiong Offor may be heading on a collision course, following alleged refusal by the Commissioner to honour an invitation extended to her by the House Committee on Agriculture.
Mrs. Offor was invited by the committee, Wednesday for an interface and deliberation on activities bordering on her Ministry as it has to do with the Central Abattoir and the distribution of farming inputs for the second planting season of the year, 2024, but she reportedly snubbed the invitation.
Global Trust News.ng reports that Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, Pastor. Ubong Attah, representing Ibesikpo-Asutan in the House of Assembly, and members of the committee were all seated at the conference room of the Assembly on Wednesday waiting for the commissioner to turn up, but she never did.
Expressing displeasure over the Commissioner’s attitude after waiting for two and a half hours with other committee members, Hon. Attah, disclosed that his committee had earlier dispatched four letters of invitation to the Commissioner who failed to show up at any of the invitation.
The Committee Chairman had tasked the Commissioner to display some level of transparency and accountability to Akwa Ibom people over government’s policies and programmes that has to do with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Attah, who frowned at the contemptuous act exhibited by the Commissioner, described her actions unacceptable and called for further Legislative actions.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Udeme Otong had in a recent plenary of the House, directed Chairmen of House Committees not to hesitate to report to the House, any Head of MDA’s who fail to honour their committee invitation for necessary legislative action to be taken against such a public official. The resolution of the House was sequel to a matter raised by a Lawmaker who drew attention of the Speaker to the attitude of some heads of Ministries, Department and Agencies MDA’s of government, who are in the habit of snubbing invitations by the Assembly Committees.
Attempts by this news medium to reach out to the Commissioner for Agriculture to get her own side of the story proved abortive as at press time, as her phone lines were out of reach.
