Senate Worried over Low Release of 2018 Budget to MDAs

Senate Worried over Low Release of 2018 Budget to MDAs
  •  Says some agencies got as little as 10%

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The Senate Thursday expressed deep concern over the low release of the 2018 Appropriation to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), saying some of the MDAs received as little as 10 per cent of the approved allocation during the period under review.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information, Senator Suleiman Adokwe (PDP Nasarawa South), who made this disclosure during the 2019 budget defence of the Federal Ministry of Information, decried the poor implementation of the 2018 budget and blamed the executive arm of government for not releasing adequate funds that could enable the federal agencies execute developmental projects.

According to him, “Before the budget defence exercise, we have done a bit of oversight functions and we noticed that releases for capital projects were quite low. Most of the agencies that we visited received between 10 and 15 per cent releases.

“Based on our interactions with the various agencies of government, we have discovered that capital releases are still very low. So far, the highest I have seen, the highest release is 67 per cent.

“Releases to some agencies are hovering between 40 and 45 per cent. So, the 2018 budget implementation, in our opinion is not very encouraging and capital releases are what really ginger the economy.”

Adokwe posited that since it is the expenditure arising from capital provisions that put money in the system, which has been very low, only salaries have been paid up to 100 per cent.

He said: “Overhead releases have not been up to 60 per cent in many cases and even most agencies received just for six months for the 2018 financial year which is not good enough.

“If you look at the 2018 total budget of N9 trillion, it sounds like a big money until when you do a quick conversion in dollars that you will discover that it is actually about $25bn.”

Nigerians, he explained, are not feeling the impact of government because of the failure of the executive to adequately fund the budget.

Adokwe, therefore, advised the executive to release all the funds that would be appropriated in 2019 for the various MDAs “if it wants Nigerians to feel the impact of government”.

“The revenue being generated yearly by the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Nigerian Customs Service and other collection agencies are even higher than what we are talking about, so why are we experiencing poor releases?” he further said.

Meanwhile, the federal government has acquired and installed high sensitivity seismometers and tilet meters for monitoring and detecting earth movements and earthquake across the country.

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Hon. Bawa Abubakar, made this known Thursday when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy to defend his ministry’s 2019 budget.

Abubakar, who said the earth movement monitoring device was acquired as part of the measures to address the country’s geological security, explained that the device was installed in four locations at the Nigeria Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) premises, Gwagwalada, Bwari and Kaduna.

According to him, the effort was in response to the recent persistent earth tremors experienced in the country most especially around Abuja.

He said the proactive measure became necessary in order to predict, detect and monitor earth movement and earthquake-related activities.

He listed insufficient and untimely release of funds, direct intervention by states in the management of mineral resources, multiple taxation by states and local governments and inadequate geological data, as some of the challenges facing the mining sector.

Abubakar also listed limited supporting infrastructure, insecurity of mine fields especially in Zamfara, Kaduna, Plateau and North-east and illegal mining as other challenges facing the ministry.

The minister, however, noted that there was no doubt that the mining sector could do better if leakages were blocked.

Responding, the committee Chairman, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, asked the minister to furnish the committee with a detailed breakdown of the budget.

The committee, he said, believes that the revenue capacity of the sector should be raised for the country to benefit.

He also said steps should be taken to position the sector to take its pride of place in the scheme of things in the country.

The ministry proposed N20,480,057,749 as its budget estimate for 2019.

Out of the amount, the sum of N8,559,365,940 is for personnel cost, N1,726,419,857 is for overhead, while N10,194,271,952 is for capital projects.

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