The Rivers State crisis took a new turn on Tuesday, when lawmakers accused the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, of failing to bring the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and the 2024 Appropriation Bill to them.
The Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, announced this during the Assembly’s first plenary, even as two bills that appear to weaken the governor and empower the Assembly received first reading on the House floor.
“The 2024 Appropriation Bill is yet to get to this august assembly. As it stands today, we have not received the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, we have not received the appropriation bill for 2024,” he said.
“It means the state at the moment is operating without a budget approved by this august assembly in line with the 1999 Constitution as altered.”
Fubara had initially presented a budget of N800 billion for 2024 to a four-man House of Assembly for approval on December 13, 2023. The governor swiftly signed the budget into law on Dec. 14, merely 24 hours after its presentation to the lawmakers.
However, as part of the conditions to end the political crisis in the state, under a peace accord facilitated by President Bola Tinubu, Fubara is expected to re-present the budget.
Amaewhule leads the 25 members of the House of Assembly who are loyal to the immediate past governor, Nyesom Wike, who now serves as the FCT Minister under President Tinubu’s administration.
Meanwhile, the governor is yet to respond to the lawmakers’ demands.