A breakdown of additions the
National Assembly made to the 2018 budget has emerged.
The lawmakers had inserted 6,403
projects valued at N578.31bn.
According to Budget Office
documents, the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing had the highest number of
projects inserted into its budget, with 996 projects valued at N121.88bn.
Ministry of Water Resources had
1,151 projects worth N61.85bn while Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development, and Ministry of Education had 459 projects and 467 projects valued
at N52.79bn and N48.8bn, respectively.
Also, nine projects worth N42.2bn
were inserted into the budget of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning.
Ministry of Communication Technology had 78 projects insertion worth N3.9bn,
while ministries of Defence and Environment has 19 projects and 147 projects
valued at N12.5bn and N9.5bn, respectively.
Federal Capital Territory
Administration, FCTA: Six projects worth N7.2bn were inserted into its budget;
Foreign Affairs had 57 projects worth N8.29bn; Health had 885 projects worth
N38.47bn; Information had 178 projects worth N8.9bn; Interior had 78 projects
valued at N8bn; and Ministry of Labour and Employment had 226 projects,
estimated at N13.02bn.
Mines and Steel with 34 projects
worth N2.2bn; Niger Delta, 102 projects worth N5.72bn; Office of National
Security Adviser had two projects worth N5.35bn, while the Office of Secretary
to the Government of the Federation had 448 projects valued at N35.12bn.
Ministry of Science and
Technology with 506 projects valued at N35.64bn; Trade and Investment had 334
projects worth N33.83bn; Ministry of Transportation had 23 projects valued at
N10.9bn; Ministry of Women Affairs had 41 projects, estimated at N1.52bn; and
Ministry of Youths and Sports had 67 projects worth N2.49bn inserted into its
budget.
Buhari on June 20 signed the
budget worth N9.1tn made up of N2.87tn for capital expenditure, N3.51tn for
recurrent (non-debt) expenditure and N2.01tn projected for debt servicing.
But the president, in his speech,
complained of the insertions.
He said, “The logic behind the
Constitutional direction that budgets should be proposed by the Executive is
that, it is the Executive that knows and defines its policies and projects.
“Unfortunately, that has not been
given much regard in what has been sent to me. The National Assembly made cuts
amounting to 347 billion Naira in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted
to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting
to 578 billion Naira.
“Many of the projects cut are
critical and may be difficult, if not impossible, to implement with the reduced
allocation.
“Some of the new projects
inserted by the National Assembly have not been properly conceptualized,
designed and costed and will therefore be difficult to execute.
“Furthermore, many of these new
projects introduced by the National Assembly have been added to the budgets of
most MDAs with no consideration for institutional capacity to execute them or
the incremental recurrent expenditure that may be required.
“As it is, some of these projects
relate to matters that are the responsibility of the States and Local
Governments, and for which the Federal Government should therefore not be
unduly burdened.
”Such examples of projects from
which cuts were made are as follows: The provisions for some
nationally/regionally strategic infrastructure projects such as Counter-part
funding for the Mambilla Power Plant, Second Niger Bridge/ancillary roads, the
East-West Road, Bonny-Bodo Road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and Itakpe-Ajaokuta
Rail Project were cut by an aggregate of 11.5 billion Naira.
“Similarly, provisions for some
ongoing critical infrastructure projects in the FCT, Abuja especially major
arterial roads and the mass transit rail project, were cut by a total of 7.5
billion Naira.
“The provision for Rehabilitation
and Additional Security Measures for the United Nations Building by the FCT,
Abuja was cut by 3.9 billion Naira from 4 billion Naira to 100 million Naira.
“The above will make it
impossible for the Federal Government of Nigeria to fulfill its commitment to
the United Nations on this project.
“The provisions for various
Strategic Interventions in the health sector such as the upgrade of some
tertiary health institutions, transport and storage of vaccines through the
cold chain supply system, provision of anti-retroviral drugs for persons on
treatment, establishment of chemotherapy centres and procurement of dialysis
consumables were cut by an aggregate amount of 7.45 billion Naira.
“The provision for security
infrastructure in the 104 Unity Schools across the country were cut by 3
billion Naira at a time when securing our students against acts of terrorism
ought to be a major concern of government.
“The provision for the Federal
Government’s National Housing Programme was cut by 8.7 billion Naira.
“At a time when we are working
with Labour to address compensation-related issues, a total of 5 billion Naira
was cut from the provisions for Pension Redemption Fund and Public Service Wage
Adjustment.”
Responding, the National
Assembly, at a joint briefing, explained why the adjustments were carried out.
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