Senate, on Tuesday, decried the yearly poor budgetary ceiling to Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (OAGF) by the Budget Office, saying the allocations over the years were grossly inadequate.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Senator Matthew Urhohghide (PDP Edo), with other members of the committee, expressed their displeasure when officials of OAGF and Budget Office appeared before the Committee.
He said the Committee had considered the budget office proposal for the OAGF and was dissatisfied with the budget proposal of N4.47 billion proposed to OAGF for the 2021 budget.
He said the budget would not be adequate for the OAGF to audit over 600 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) including foreign missions and their Attachees.
According to him, there has been continued under-funding of OAGF which is constitutionally charged with responsibility of ensuring transparency, accountability and probity in governance.
He said the OAGF was in need of replacing 247 retired staff which has not been provided for in the budget proposal.
“The promotion and annual increments of staff are also not factored in the year 2021 budget,” Urhoghide said.
According to him, the amount provided for training and welfare of staff members which is the major asset of OAGF was inadequate for the performance of its statutorily functions.
He said that the OAGF was in need of fund for the performance of specialised audit which were also provided for in the year 2021 budget proposal for the office.
He said there was need to digitalise and automate the system for better performance noting that the OAGF’s budget proposal for this purpose was not approved by the Budget Office.
He said it was an irony that while the OAGF which was constitutionally established to ensure accountability and transparency in management of public funds was having a reduced allocations, similar agencies established to achieve a fraction of same objective are well funded.
Urhoghide listed the agencies to include the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission(ICPC).
According to him, EFCC approved appropriation for 2018 was N21.69billion, in 2019 it was N22,07 billion, and 2020 was N30.92 billion while 2021 proposal was N29.86 billion.
For ICPC, he said N5,09 billion was approved in 2018, the sum of N6.28 billion was for 2019, adding that N7.52 billion was approved in 2020, while N11.25 billion was proposesd for 2021 budget.
He, however, said that OAGF which has constitutional mandate of ensuring transparency on public fund was allocated N3.22 billion in 2018, another N3.15 billion in 2019, while N4.13 billion was for 2020 and N4.69 billion was being proposed for 2021.
He sought the cooperation of the Budget office to provide solutions to the poor budgetary allocations of OAGF given its enormous responsibility of ensuring transparency in usage of public funds.
Responding, Director General of the Budget Office, Mr Ben Akabueze, explained that the office was operating based on personnel cost budget template handed over to it by the Federal Government.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Committee on Niger Delta Affairs on Tuesday in Abuja queried the allocation of N15 billion to the East West Road project.
Members of the committee at the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs 2021 budget defence frowned at the allocation of N4 billion to all other human developmental projects in the region.
Chairman of the committee, Essien Ayi (PDP-Cross River), said that the East West road had been under construction for over 14 years.
“We just finished with #EndSARS, we know what happened, the whole of my state capital, everywhere was turned upside down.
“The kind of devastation that I saw there, it would have taken us about 10 years back.
“If the budget is youth-oriented, then why are we going to use N15 billion for East West road.
“I listened to the news where the Senate President warned that we should be careful, that if this thing resurfaces again, it is going to be very devastating.
“So, minister, we have about 300 or more projects in Niger Delta. So, how are you going to allocate the money to these kinds of projects, it’s not possible, we will not do it,” he said.
Also, Edim Eta (PDP-Cross River) said that budgeting N15 billion for East West Road and N4 billion for other projects in the Niger Delta is unfair.
According to him, I believe the bulk of the funding that is coming in 2021 should go to youth programmes.
“We all witnessed the #EndSARS protest, all these were from frustrations of staying at home from ASUU strike, unemployment.
“So can only N4 billion out of the total budget of Niger Delta go to those projects.
“I do not think that is a good idea; if the East West road has been taken from the sovereign wealth fund, then the provision for that N15 billion should have been done separately to cover that,” he said.
Responding, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, said that he wanted to deliver a road that would last.
The minister said that it was on record that roads constructed under his watch had no potholes even 13 years after.
“So, I have a lot hope I will deliver same in the Niger Delta. So we will provide for you the details of designs and all.
“I have not allowed any single variation, because I have not seen the kind of quality of work I would have loved to see.
“There was one that entered into Federal Executive Council and I had to step it down.
“I have not yet presented a single variation, let them do the original work so that we see, because this thing has taken too long.
“From 2006 up till date, when I was not part of government, I used to think that the road was over priced, but now that I am part of government, I think it was adequately priced.
“It is just that the aggregate has gone up in terms of materials,” he said.
Akpabio said that N15 billion could spread across projects and not a single one will be completed under the current administration saying, “let us just close our eyes and do something.”
He said if that was not done, the ministry would be like Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) with about 12,000 abandoned projects across Niger Delta after spending trillions.
The minister said that the amount for the road in Section 1-4 is about N423 billion and amount so far paid to date is about N354 billion.
“The total completion in my opinion is about 80 per cent. Yes, the terrain is challenging, annual rainfall affects the work, releases of funds are slow and then COVID-19 added to it too.
“But we are determined to surpass those challenges. That’s why we are here today,” Akpabio said.
