The Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Senator George Akume, has called for more funding of the ministry to enable it function more effectively.
Akume made the appeal when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Special Duties to defend the ministry’s budget for 2023.
He said the current allocation and envelop system had made it difficult for the ministry to function optimally.
Akume told the lawmakers that the N180 billion allocated to the ministry in the 2023 budget proposal, representing 71 per cent reduction compared to the previous year’s budget, was grossly inadequate to accomplish its sweeping mandate.
The minister said the envelope system had further incapacitated the ministry from achieving its mandate to monitor special projects and interventions of the Federal Government as well as the implementation of constituency projects of members of the National Assembly.
He said the lack of funds had affected the ministry’s ability to drive the National Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy, a presidential initiative of the current administration aimed at pulling 100 million citizens out of poverty.
Akume said the presidential initiative has the capacity to generate millions of direct jobs for farmers in cottage industries and others in the value chain.
The minister regretted that the paucity of funds had hampered proper execution of projects under his watch.
Responding to the minister’s concerns, a member of the committee, Elisha Abbo (APC Adamawa North), expressed sympathy over the financial difficulties the ministry was facing.
Other lawmakers, including its Chairman, Yusuf Yusuf, backed the minister’s request for more funds in the 2023 budget proposal.
Also, The Presidency yesterday explained that the N21.1 billion 2023 budget proposal is targeted at completing projects of the State House which the 2022 budget could not complete.
The Permanent Secretary for State House, Tijjani Umar, made the clarification to members of the House of Representatives Committee on Special Duties, led by its Chairman, Suleiman Samaila, at the National Assembly in Abuja.
The Permanent Secretary, who was accompanied by top management workers of the State House, said the 2023 budget proposal seeks to consolidate the achievements recorded in the implementation of the 2022 Appropriation.
A statement by the State House Director of Information, Abiodun Oladunjoye, recalled that on November 3, 2022, Umar had defended the budget before the Senate Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs.
According to him, the projects to receive attention from the 2023 budget include phased replacement of vehicles, Villa telecommunication infrastructure, routine maintenance of the Presidential Villa facilities, remodelling and upgrade of the State House’s mini-Zoo.
On the 2022 budget performance, the Permanent Secretary said the State House appropriation for overhead was N7.7 billion, out of which N4.5 billion, representing 58.3 per cent, was released between January and July 2022.
He said from the overhead releases, N4.2 billion, representing 93 per cent of the released amount, had been expended, leaving a balance of N311.3 million.
On capital expenditure, Umar said out of N29.5 billion appropriated, the sum of N23.3 billion, representing 79 per cent, had been released while N16.9 billion had been expended, leaving a balance of N6.1 billion.
Also, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji, has said the committee was making efforts to address the omission of the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) from the 2023 budget.
The lawmaker spoke when Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika appeared before the committee to defend the ministry’s 2022 budget performance and the 2023 proposal.
Nnaji said he felt concerned that a critical security and safety agency of the ministry was omitted from the 2023 budget.
Sirika said the national carrier, Nigeria Air, would begin domestic operations before the end of the year.
He said: “The national carrier will be launched soon. We have Boeing 737 in its fleet for domestic operations and later the international operations would be introduced. We would begin the domestic market, pending the time we would get the certification and approvals to go international and intercontinental, which would be soon.
“The cost of aircraft maintenance, though worrisome, has been managed during this period. Furthermore, it is worthy to note that there are more bilateral and multilateral air services agreements that have been signed for the benefit of our air travelers,” he said.