Hon. Donald Ojogo, representing Ilaje/Ese-Odo Federal Constituency of Ondo State, has berated the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, for failure to make clarifications on the N100 million allocated to each member of the National Assembly as palliatives by President Bola Tinubu.

Ojogo, who expressed his displeasure over the matter while featuring on National television, said the Ministry of Agriculture defaulted by not telling Nigerians the true picture of the whole development as the Ministry in charge of procuring the palliatives for the lawmakers.

He pointed out that though the money had been appropriated, many of the lawmakers, including himself, could not wait till the slow process was completed before making their constituents happy within the festive period.

His words: “I am also among those who have given out a trailer of rice to my constituents and that is in the capacity that God has given to me.

“I have also procured a sizeable number of solar lights and that is where the issue of clarification comes in, specifically from the Ministry of Agriculture. The silence or the indifference the seeming lukewarm attitude from from the Ministry of Agriculture is not helping matters.

“Why have they not come out to clarify that they were the ones engaged to midwife the process of palliatives to the members of the National Assembly that they are still on it and that they are yet to give the Bill of Quantity (BOQ) to the contractors?

“The issue of members of the House of Representatives being given trailers of rice is out of place. Some of us suspected when it was two to three weeks before Christmas and New Year that the process was going to backfire and that we were not going to have the items delivered by the contractors.

“Some of us went through banks, some engaged contractors at very exorbitant negotiating terms to ensure that in anticipation of what the President and the leadership of the House had agreed that will come in line with what had been appropriated for in the 2024 Appropriation Act.

“We tried to ensure that our constituents did not have low Celebration levels in their various levels. Somebody like me, I don’t shy away from saying the truth, where would I have had the money to buy a trailer of rice for about N35 million to go and give to my people?

“How much have I made as a lawmaker in the National Assembly to be able to do that? But for this opportunity, I have to leverage upon. But because there is already a policy statement and arrangement in place and because I suspected that it might take a longer period for this rice to come, I decided to take the risk and it was a risk worth taking, it was a risky opportunity that I jumped at.

“I wouldn’t have waited because my constituents would not have listened to me that I didn’t bring a grain of rice to solidarise with them. You have to ensure that you put smiles on the faces of your constituents and that was what some of us have done.

“There are some of us that with or without the palliatives that are appropriated for, can do something for their constituents.

”It is not all of us that have such capacity to do that, that is why we found solace in this opportunity that came and take the risky measures of embarking on anticipatory procurement on our own.

“Some make arrangements with some banks to ensure that we Please our constituents.” (New Telegraph)

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