House C’ttee Queries N8.7bn Budgetary Allocation for Information, National Orientation Ministry

•Faults N1.2bn capital component of appropriation bill

Juliet Akoje in Abuja

The House of Representatives Committee on Information and National Orientation yesterday queried the N8.7 billion budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Information and National Orientation in its 2025 proposed budget.

The committee during its 2025 budget defence session rejected the N1.2 billion capital component of the budget, describing it as grossly inadequate.

The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Fatoba Olusola, during his remark said the amount allocated to the ministry in 2024, when the national budget was N28.7 trillion, was higher than the N8.7 billion allocated in 2025 when the national budget was N49.7 trillion.

Fatoba said it was unacceptable for an agency which bears the responsibility of dissemination information not to get a substantial amount of the 2025 budget.

Also, the Deputy Chairman of the committee, Hon. Felix Nwaeke, said the committee was not happy with the meager allocation, suggesting that the committee should reject the budget and make a case before the leadership of the house for an increase.

Hon. Ismail Tijani also said the amount was too small to sustain the ministry in 2025 to achieve its mandate and that some of the agencies under the ministry have foreign offices where the image of the country is being projected, saying that funds cannot meet the demands of the ministry.

Furthermore, the spokesman of the House, Hon. Akin Rotimi, said that many agencies of government who do not have the expertise were doing the job of the ministry.

Rotimi noted that a glance, the 2025 proposed budget showed lump sums allocated to information and orientation in the budget downline of other agencies.

“All allocation for information and orientation in the 2025 budget should be domiciled in the ministry where the expertise resides,” he added.

In his contribution, Hon. Amobi Ogah, criticised the envelop budgeting system practiced in the country, saying it limits the performance of government agencies and further called on the National Assembly to do away with the envelop budgeting system to allow agencies of government freedom to work according to their capacity.

However, the Chairman of the Committee said the committee rejects the capital component of the budget, pledging to work with the leadership of the house, Senate and the Minister of Finance boost the budget.

Earlier, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr. Muhammed Idris said he was saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that the information that Nigerians require from the government are made available to them.

Idris explained that the ministry was looking forward to deepening engagements with the citizens by organising town halls on government activities across the country and that the ministry was also looking forward to consolidating the ministerial briefing where ministers would appear to inform Nigerians what they were doing and get feedback from Nigerians.

He said “We have seen over the years the gradual erosion of trust from the Nigerian public to the government.

“There is a need for the Ministry of Information and its agencies to deepen its engagement with the Nigerian public, so that people will get to know more about the activities and programmes of government.

“Now there is a portal that we have also strengthened by the way of information coming from these ministries, so that Nigerians can be better informed from this portal.

“We urge all Nigerians to go back there. And all of this, of course, is important so that we can improve on policy awareness, and we can also take feedback from the Nigerian public.

“The President has given us this mandate, that is not enough for the government to be seen to be building roads, it is not enough for the government to be seen to be constructing hospitals, it is not enough for government to be seen to be putting money in education.

“We need to inculcate the right values in our citizenry, especially the young ones, so that Nigerians can reclaim, once again, the lost glory.”

Speaking further, he said: “We know that during the time of our forecast, people, in the first democratic experiment, the Sir Amodu Bello, the Taraba Balewa, the Azikiwe, the Awolowo, all of them, when we talk about them, the tendency is that we say our founding fathers have done so well, but what has happened since they left the sea? We are still unable to stop talking about them.

“Now, the idea is to replicate Azikiwe, replicate the Awolowo, especially among our young people, so that Nigeria can once again, begin to think and talk and act as Nigerians.”