Tag: Budget defence

There was uproar at a 2025 budget defence session on Thursday at the National Assembly as lawmakers tried to sieve through the details of last year’s budget of the Nigeria Police.

Trouble started when the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, tried to spell out the details of spending funds for the construction of five zonal Police headquarters across the country.

Egbetokun had barely commenced his presentation when a member of the House of Representatives, Mark Esset from Akwa Ibom interjected – questioning why the details of what the IGP read were not contained in the document given to him.

However, it was Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi – a member of the All Progressives Congress and Principal Officer that turned on the heat, insisting that as a senator he should have the appropriate copy of what the IGP dished out to them.

Nwebonyi said: “We are here to serve Nigerians and Nigerians should see us as a very serious institution.

“We are not against the presentation of the IGP. But I, as the Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, should have what the IGP is reading.”

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All efforts to explain his intention were thwarted by shouts and rowdiness which apparently led Nwebonyi’s anger to rapidly grow more intense after his Point of Order was overruled by the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs, Honourable Abubakar Makki Yalleman to allow the IGP continue with his presentation.

With his anger at boiling point, Nwoebonyi took his belongings and stormed out of the budget defence exercise, but as he did, he kept exchanging hot words with mostly House of Representatives members who jeered at him as he took his exit.

A member of the House of Representatives, Hon Yusuf Gagdi, who represents Panshin/Kanam/Kanke Federal Constituency of Plateau State, was apparently disappointed at what played out even as he explained that the committee’s decision to allow the IGP to continue to speak was in line with established parliamentary procedures.

He added that it is completely out of place for lawmakers to interject when they do not have the floor.

When the dust simmered down – the IGP continued his presentation saying that the Police were grossly underfunded and called for the removal of the police from the “envelope” budgetary system.

On recruitment, Egbetokun disclosed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has increased the yearly quota from 10,000 to 30,000 and that this will greatly improve the Force’s performance.

He urged the National Assembly to help the police deliver on its mandate “Otherwise we depend only on the budgetary allocation.

“We are glad that this committee has identified the gross underfunding of the police,” he said.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, on Friday, said N2.4trillion has been projected as its internally generated revenue (IGR) for the 2025 fiscal year.

This is even as Oduwole decried the sum of N3.844billion allocated for capital expenditure in the Ministry’s 2025  budget, saying it will not be enough to fund its programmes and plans aimed at driving the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Oduwole described the amount as grossly inadequate while soliciting the support of the lawmakers for additional funding to enable the Ministry align its projects according to the objectives spelt out in the National Development Plan and the Medium Term Expenditure Framework.

The Minister spoke at a 2025 budget defence organized by the joint Senate Committees on Industry, Trade and Investment and the House of Representatives Committees on Commerce, Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises.

She solicited the support of the lawmakers to enhance the capital allocation towards the development and growth of the Nigerian economy.

The Minister said that the Ministry is committed to achieving its vision of promoting economic growth, creating jobs and gnerating wealth as well as formulating and implementing policies and programmes that attract foreign direct investment, boost industrialisation, increased trade and export as well as encourage the development of enterprises.

According to the Minister, the Ministry is presently implementing strategic policies, plans and programmes targetted towards economic recovery and growth for employment generation and wealth creation for the generality of Nigerians.

She identified some of the programmes and policies of the Federal Government being promoted to include the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan, the National Enterprise Development Programme, the Trade Policy of Nigeria (2023-2027) and the Nigeria investment Policy (2023-2027).

In addition, she disclosed that the Ministry has continued to play a vital role in facilitating the ease of doing business which has led to substantial increase in investment in the local economy and enhanced the industrialisation policy of the Federal Government.

The Minister stressed that within the framework of the National Development Plan (NDP), the Ministry has continued to dilligently pursue the creation of an enabling environment for the Nigerian Industry, Trade and Investment sectors to enhance Ease of Doing Business;

The Implementation of Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) to rapidly enhance industrial capacity and improve competitiveness within the Sector;

Sustain the development of the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Sector to achieve industrial development and growth;

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To proactively attract domestic and foreign investments; and facilitate enhanced trade and market access to stimulate investments and encourage patronage of Made-in-Nigeria products and services.

She told the lawmakers that in 2023, the capital budget for the Ministry was N2.86 billion with 97 per cent of the amount released and utlised, while in 2024, capital allocation to the Ministry increased to N8.364billion  with only 40 per cent released.

She said while the Ministry projected a budget of about N2.3 trillion for the 2025 financial year, it was allocated the sum of N11.752 billion with capital budget pegged at N3,844, 978,433, and an internally generated revenue projection of N2.4 trillion for the financial year.

She said that N6, 451,613,046 was allocated for Personnel, while N1, 455,545,652 was allocated Overhead expenditure.

The Minister said further that the Ministry intends to generate revenue through weights and measures department, commercial law department (trademark, patents and designs), Export Fumigation, sales of government assets, rent, backward integration programme certificate, late notifcation, tender fees, application fees for certificate of acceptance and certificate of acceptance fees.

She maintained that within the available resources, the Ministry is committeed to ensuring the speedy attainment of the “Renewed Hope Agenda” of the Tinubu administration, adding that without the continuous support and guidance of the National Assembly,  the Ministry will not be able to achieve much.

Members of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Industry, Trade and Investment in their remarks lamented the failure of the country to curb cross border banditry and smuggling despite the official closure of its borders.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Industry, Senator Francis Fadaunsi (PDP – Osun East), in his remarks said it is better for the borders to be fully opened and not technically closed.

He said the exit of Niger Republic and Chad from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) with attendant opening of their borders on the Nigerian side has worsened the menace of insecurity across the affected states and by extension, compounding the Nation’s economic woes.

Fadaunsi said: “Border closure is hampering economic fortunes of the country because rather than curb smuggling, it encourages it.

“For example, on rice production alone, the largest percentage of four million tonnes shortfall, is being smuggled into the country since local producers are   only producing three million tonnes out the expected consumption rate of seven million tonnes.”

In her remarks,  another member of the committee, Hon Fatima Talba representing Nangero/ Potiskum Federal Constituency of Yobe State in the House of Representatives, said as far as she and her constituents are concerned, the borders are opened and not closed.

“Going by free movement of people and even criminals across the borders, it is time for us to stop fooling ourselves with border closure,” she said.

In his remarks on the border closure, Hon Paul Kalejaiye representing Ajeromi/Ifelodun Federal Constituency of Lagos State in the House of Representatives, wondered about the form of border closure policy Nigeria is implementing.

“We need to even ask the question on the border policy being implemented. Are all borders across the Nation closed or those closed are from a segment of the country,” he asked.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Trade and Investment, Senator Suleiman Sadiq Umar (APC – Kwara North), accordingly urged the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole who came for the budget defence session, to liaise with the Presidency on the way out of the border closure issue.

Senator Umar also directed ministry to go back and correct some errors observed in the documents submitted  to the joint committee, particularly the sum of N59billion erroneously written as payment for N50billion project which the ministry blamed on typographical error.

Also yesterday, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, defended the 2025 budget of the establishment before the Senate and House of Representatives Joint committees on Public Service.

Walson-Jack in her presentation said the sum of N18.77billion was earmarked for the capital, Personal and overhead expenditure of the

Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, for the 2025 fiscal year.

In her presentation, Walson-Jack said: “In order to consolidate on the achievements recorded in the discharge of our mandate, the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation is proposing the sum of N18,775,757,156.00 for personnel, overhead and capital expenditure for the 2025 fiscal year.

“The 2025 budget is to be utilized among others to fast-track implementation of the six pillars of reforms and mandate of the Federal Civil Service implementation plan 2025 and the development of a successor plan.

“It is also to be utilized for the rollout of several batches of restructured mandatory training programme, leadership enhancement and development programme particularly induction programmes as well as several other trainings service-wide.

“It would also be used for the purchase and installation of elevators in the Federal Secretariat and the rehabilitation and renovation of the Federal Secretariat building.”

The defence of this year’s budget estimates by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government before the various House of Representatives committees could not begin yesterday in the House of Representatives.

As at 5 p.m yesterday, there was no sign of any activity at the various House committees’ rooms where the budget defence was scheduled to hold.

During our correspondent’s tour of all the committees’ rooms, it was discovered that no activity was going on anywhere; even the National Assembly complex was empty.

It was not clear at the time of this report why the budget defence failed to start. But it was learnt that the public event could not hold because most members of the House had not returned from the Christmas and New Year break.

The House is expected to resume plenary on January 14.

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There were indications that the various MDAs would appear before joint committees of the Senate and House for their budget defence in view of the short time remaining for the lawmakers.

The Chairman of the House Copmmittee on Appropriation, Abubakar Bichi (APC, Kano), had said the lawmakers would scrutinise the budget very well in the interest of all Nigerians.

But our correspondent could not reach him last night to comment on why the defence did not hold, as planned, while his deputy, Igarewey Enwo, did not respond to the calls put across to him.

The chairman of a separate committee, who did not want to be named, told our correspondent that consultations were ongoing.

He said the lawmakers cut short their Christmas break because of the budget defence.