House Committee Issues 48-Hour Ultimatum to Rivers State Sole Administrator Over N24 Billion CCTV Controversy

The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Rivers State has given the state’s Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (Rtd), a 48-hour ultimatum to submit a detailed breakdown of key allocations in the proposed 2025 budget, including a controversial N24 billion earmarked for CCTV installation in the Government House.

Chairman of the committee and House Majority Leader, Rep. Julius Ihonvbere (APC, Edo), issued the directive on Monday during a budget defence session in Abuja.

He expressed concern over several line items in the N1.48 trillion Appropriation Bill.

He stated that the committee had gone through the budget as presented by the sole administrator and had raised several issues, directing the administrator to submit the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), which is a legal document that should precede budget presentation.

Ihonvbere specifically queried the allocation of N24 billion for CCTV cameras to be installed in the state government house, demanding a detailed breakdown.

He also queried the allocation of N30 billion for the purchase of gunboats and N23 billion earmarked for contingency reserves, requesting justification for these sums.

The chairman noted that the committee also questioned the allocation of state funds to existing federal projects without an agreement with the Federal Government for refunds.

“We need additional details for those allocations. We request details of state Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in the last three months to enable us to know your financial flows so that we can weigh it against the deficit in the budget in terms of financing it and carrying out some of the projects.”

“We also need details of transfers to local governments, essentially how local government funds that come into the state are being managed at the moment.”

“Those documents we have requested must reach us within 48 hours; be rest assured that we are all on the same side in terms of getting Rivers working again.”

“We want to ensure that we will promote a lot of accountability and ensure that the interests of the people themselves, no matter how remote they are from the state capital, are protected,” Ihonvbere said.

He commended President Bola Tinubu for his intervention that brought about peace between the suspended Executive and Legislature in the state.

Earlier, Ibas, who was represented by the Senior Special Assistant on Strategy and Policy, Andrew Nweke, explained that the administration inherited many of the items in the budget.

According to him, the budget is a reflection of the interests of the Rivers people, saying it was designed in line with needs assessments carried out by implementation agencies.

Nweke stated that Rivers State has many peculiarities, noting that the N30 billion earmarked for gunboats was to support security agencies in their fight against insecurity on the waterways.

He further explained that Rivers often experiences flooding, insecurity, and other unforeseen natural circumstances, stating that the N23 billion contingency fund was to address such situations.

Regarding the N24 billion earmarked for CCTV in the state government house, Nweke said that the office of the Governor is one of honour and that there was a need to ensure modern technology security surveillance among other measures.

He assured that the additional documents required by the committee would be made available to enable an easy legislative process.