An adhoc committee of the House of Representatives probing into alleged misapplication of over N82 billion ecological funds barred journalists from covering its proceedings yesterday.

The development was in defiance of the open parliament policy of Speaker Tajudeen Abass, which stressed the need to open up the proceedings of the House to the public making it easier for Nigerians to see what their representatives are doing and hold them accountable for their actions.

The development is also coming against the backdrop of report by Premium Times, which accused an adhoc committee of the House of Representatives of probing job racketeering and extorting money from heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government.

However, the House had since faulted the Premium Times report, which provided bank details and names behind the business entity used by the lawmakers to demand money from the tertiary institutions in exchange for exemption from scrutiny and public humiliation.

Yesterday, Mr Edem Bassey, the Clerk, ad hoc committee probing the utilisation of ecological funds released to the National Agency for Great Green Wall (NAGGW) insist that the secret proceedings was in order

The clerk who claimed the decision to shut out journalists was at the instance of the chairman of the committee, Mr Dabo Ismaila Haruna adding that as things stand Speaker Abbas is yet to unveil his legislative agenda.

“As at today, the Speaker does not even have legislative agenda for the 10th Assembly; a committee was set up that report is yet to be considered, so there is no official agenda for the 10th Assembly, ” he said.

He said: “The first sitting you covered, I wrote a letter to you, and to the best of my knowledge, this Committee did not write a letter asking for another coverage. So that addresses the issue.

“You know how we work in this place, I am supposed to either communicate to you or the chairman. That has not been done and why it is not done, I was not briefed to do so.”

However, when he was told that Speaker Abbas had, during his address assured Nigerians that the 10th House would ensure an open parliament, Bassey said: “I am glad you have mentioned the Speaker’s agenda. We do not need media coverage. If there is a need, we can also do.”

“Already, my chairman had told me we do not want the media, and you know how this place is, it will look somehow.”

The Director General, NAGGW, Dr Yusuf Bukar in his presentation obtained by journalists, insists that the sum of N53,425,423,874.34 was so far released to the NAGGW since inception.

This, he said, was against the sum of N81.2 billion which the lawmakers alleged that the agency spent on planting trees.

According to him, “the exact sum of N53,425,423,874.34 was received from inception in 2015 to date as against N81.2 billion widely circulated.

“Not all the N53,425,423,874.34 received were used directly on planting activities.

“The exact figure spent on planting from 2015 to date is N5,145,735,470.15, adding that the approximate sum of N7.2 billion balance in the agency’s account are liabilities.

He added that it had already been committed to ongoing contracts that have already been awarded.

“All unutilized funds from capital appropriations are refunded to Federal Government TSA account at the end of the financial year, where applicable.

He said the agency has implemented programmes and projects in many areas, as follows: a. Planting of diverse seedling species and the associated costs, which include transportation and labour.