The austerity measures adopted by the Federal Government has been directed to various ministries in the form of massive reduction of their budgets in contrast to what was contained in the 2015 budget proposal that was presented to the National Assembly earlier this year.
It was gathered that aside the Federal Ministry of Works, whose minister, Mike Onolememen, decried the over 80 per cent slash of his ministry’s budget by the Federal Ministry of Finance, other ministries were also affected.
Specifically, senior officials in the ministries of power, agriculture and aviation stated that their various budgets were slashed just as that of the works ministry.
Although the percentages by which their respective budgets were reduced differ, it was learnt that what was left for the ministries after the cut would not meet the financial demands of projects earmarked for 2015.
On Monday, Onolememen told members of the House of Representatives Committee on Works that the ministry’s N100bn proposed budget for 2015 was slashed by the Ministry of Finance to N11bn, representing an 89 per cent reduction.
Onolememen stated that no sum was approved for the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency’s capital projects and the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation.
He said the finance ministry predicated its action on the economic realities on the ground.
The minister expressed concern that only 33 out of the 210 ongoing road projects had been provided for in view of the “lean allocation” to the ministry, adding that the provision was not sufficient to encourage contractors to sustain appreciable progress on their work sites.
At the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, it was learnt that what was approved for it by the finance ministry was less than one per cent of what was contained in the earlier 2015 budget proposal.
This, our correspondent gathered, was way below the demands of the ministry and would go nowhere in settling the financial needs of its projects. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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what should be slash is all the politician allowance.
ReplyDeleteUndoubtedly, adjustments must take place in order to adjust the budget in line with the projected funds for the year 2015. In reality, the main source of funds is the crude oil. The effect of serious cuts from the anticipated revenue from the crude oil must be recognized. The breakdown of cuts from the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture is unknown, all things being equal, the Ministry's budget ought to have been spared because of the need to enhance food production in the country. Much reliance on imported foods should be revisited and more funds made available to the Ministry. Nigerian must improve its level of locally produced foods in order to reduce expenses on foreign exchange.
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