Business
Reps Berate Finance Minister For Poor Budget Release
The House of Representatives’ Committee on Science and
Technology says it is displeased with what it considered the poor
implementation of the 2012 budget.
Chairman of the committee, Mr Abiodun Akinlade, expressed
the displeasure when he led other members on an oversight function visit to the
National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) offices.
He said contrary to claims by the Ministry of Finance, only
35 per cent of the 2012 budget funds had so far been released.
The legislator said this had therefore made it difficult for
MDAs to execute their projects in the fiscal year.
He said the figure was contrary to the 50 per cent claimed
to have been released by the Ministry of Finance.
“The ministries are being shortchanged, and their funds have
not been released to them and this is October, less than two months to the end
of the year, and the releases have been less than 35 per cent.
He said Nigeria has money, based on the findings of the
House Committees on Finance and Appropriation.
The committee chairman said the danger in not releasing the
funds was that all sectors of the economy are affected when government as the
highest spender in Nigeria refuses to spend money.
He said the Ministry of Finance should be bold enough to
tell Nigerians what the problem was.
The House committee chairman said there was no need
therefore in considering a new budget when the current one had not been
implemented.
“The National Assembly believes that the Appropriation Act
is a law of the land which must be adhered to and be implemented.
“Before we can consider 2013 budget, we have to know the
performance of that of 2012 and that is why the House of Representatives
suspended plenary for us to go to the field and confirm the performance of the
budget.
“What we have been saying on the floor of the House is not
far from what we have seen on the field. The performance of the budget of
Science and Technology is less than 35 per cent,” he said.
Our correspondent reports that members of the committee
later on also expressed displeasure at the NASENI budget implementation.
They said over 70 per cent of the budget implementation was
not in line with 2012 budget.
But, after listening to the agency’s defence, the committee
allowed more time for it to tidy up its books for presentation before the
committee at a later date.
In his remarks, the agency’s acting Director-General said
the agency was devoted to attaining its set goals, saying all projects were in
line with the budget.
He said that there was no way funds would be released for a
project if it was not tied to the provisions of the budget.
Our correspondent reports that some of the agencies visited
by the committee were the Raw Materials Research and Development Council
(RMRDC) and the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN).