The long wait for the Rivers State 2015 budget may continue following botched effort to present the fiscal plan on Thursday at the temporary House of Assembly venue.
BusinessDay learnt that the seat of power at noon claimed that Assembly workers had locked up the entire premises, thereby barring any entry. By this, the lawmakers could not gain access to the temporary chambers let alone admit the governor.
The main House of Assembly complex had been under lock and key by the police authorities since the botched plan by five out of 32 lawmakers to impeach the speaker and allegedly begin impeachment action against Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. Now, the lockout has started at the temporary House of Assembly debarring budget presentation.
The state often used the Christmas Eve to present its budget in any year it ran late, but this time, Christmas and New Year came and went without any glimpse of the 2015 budget. Most government officials contacted kept mum while the state’s commissioner for budget, Charles Gogo, could not be reached. The information commissioner, Ibim Semenitari, now the director of communication for Dakuku Peterside Campaign Organisation, simply snapped; “When we are ready, we present the budget”.
Monitoring continued without success until January 14, 2015 evening when hint came that the budget would be presented the next day, though no indication of time was given in a state where shadows loom long. Sources close to the venue, however, reported blockade of the temporary House of Assembly through lockout by angry workers demanding payment of some allowances.
It was gathered that passage of the 2015 budget may be the last major activity of the House and that the workers may never get any attention after this moment, hence the calculated decision to strike now.
