Members of the House of Representatives yesterday, reduced the virement figures sent by President Goodluck Jonathan in September from N98.4 to N31.9 billion.
The amended version of the proposal was thereafter approved by the lawmakers after an extensive debate on the report of the virement which was presented by the House Committee on Appropriation led by Hon. John Enoh.
The lawmakers also extended the budget implementation date from December 2011 to March 2012 to provide ample time for effective implementation of capital projects across the country.
Some of the recommendations from the House noted that some ministries and agencies, including Foreign Affairs, Science and Technology, Culture and Tourism, Mines and Steel, Federal Civil Service Commission, Service Wide Votes, Public Complaints Commission, National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP); ICPC and National Sports Commission were omitted from the process.
A breakdown shows that out of the N31,859,945,730 approved, FCT got N940,703,866 as against N17,067,478,034; Federal Ministry of Agriculture got N820,650,668 as against N6,374,772,436; Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development got N2.9 billion while Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs got N10.9 billion.
Also, the Federal Ministry of Aviation got N3.953 billion instead of N9.4 billion; Education received N538,285,620 as against N7,768,824,003; Defence/Nigerian Army, N1 billion against the initial N3 billion; National Sports Commission, N810,667,452 against N1,454,893,610; Health sector, N6.549 billion; while N3.4 billion went to Police Formations and Command and the Public Complaints Commission, N15 million.
Briefing the House on the report, Hon. Enoh expressed concern over what he described as arbitrary and irregular transfer of funds between ministries and agencies contrary to clause 4 of the 2011 Appropriation
Meanwhile, members of the House Committee on Defence, yesterday, asked the Federal Government to take action geared towards uplifting the dilapidated state of most military barracks in the country.
Chairman of Committee on Defence, Hon. Bashir Adamu Kazaure, made the call when he led other members of the committee on a visit to the Presidential Committee on Barracks Rehabilitation? (PCBR). Kazaure said the state of the barracks is disheartening.
He said, “It is very baffling to see that those who are supposed to protect our lives are not taken care off and their barracks are left to decay and have become inhabitable. The committee will make case for proper funding of the PCBR in the 2012 budget.”
The lawmaker stressed that the country must do all within its reach to cater for the welfare of men and officers of the armed forces so as to boost their morale and aid their ability to counter security challenges in the country.
Chairman of the PCBR, Mrs. Binta Muazu, told the committee that since inception in 2011, the committee had not received enough funds to enable it rehabilitate barracks in the country.