LadyExcellency:
We all have the said budget, let him quote the paragraph and page or stop making ridiculous assumption.

Premiumtimesng said it couldn't report the gossips flying around from presidential kitchen because the said proposal isn't in the copy of the budget in their possession.

9jii:
But ben bruse said it was never in the budget.
PDP God just de exposed your lie

prince088:


How can u defend what was not included in the budget? I believe both Ameachi and the committee were working with the scripts of the Budget. Here you can clearly hear about the Kano-Lagos and its connecting routes. You can also hear the emphasis of Calabar-Lagos, stating all routes. Who is deceiving who now. Truth is many of the senators were not involved in the passage of the Budget....they left it only the committee hence they don't even know much details. Watch the defence below. Skip to about the 5th minute

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KE2XYj9Id4&app=desktop

LadyExcellency:
We all have the said budget, let him quote the paragraph and page or stop making ridiculous assumption.

Premiumtimesng said it couldn't report the gossips flying around from presidential kitchen because the said proposal isn't in the copy of the budget in their possession.

shaddoww:
Senator Gbenga Ashafa, who chairs the
Senate Committee on "Land
Transportation," has debunked the
assertion by the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and the Chair
of House of Representatives Appropriation
Committee, Abdulmunin Jibrin and other
lawmakers that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal
Railway project was never included in the 2016
budget.
In a press statement below, the Senator made it
clear that while the initial budget did not
contain the project, his Committee later
received an amended budget from the executive
branch through the Minister of Transportation,
Rotimi Amaechi, who also defended the budget
before his committee. He stated that the
committee decided to allocate money to
commence construction of the Lagos-Calabar
rail in 2016. A counterpart funding is expected
to be provided by the Chinese Export-Import
Bank for the project.

See full text of Senator Ashafa's Press
Statement below:
I have carefully followed the news items making
the rounds in relation to the budget presented to
the National Assembly and what was defended by
the Ministry of Transport before the Senate
Committee on Land Transport which I have the
privilege of chairing.
The focal points of controversy seem to be the
Lagos to Calabar railway modernisation projects
and the completion of the Idu – Kaduna rail line.
I confirm that the Lagos to Calabar rail line was
not in the original document that was presented to
the National Assembly by the Executive. However
subsequently at the budget defense session
before the Senate Committee on Land Transport,
the Hon. Minister for Transport, Rotimi Amaechi,
did inform the committee of the omission of the
Lagos to Calabar rail modernisation project and
indeed sent a supplementary copy of the
ministry's budget to the committee which
contained the said project.
The minister noted that the amount needed for the
counterpart funding for both the Lagos to Kano
and Lagos to Calabar rail modernisation projects
was in the sum of 120 Billion Naira, being 60
Billion Naira per project.
While the committee did not completely agree with
all the changes made in the subsequent
document, being fully aware of the critical
importance of the rail sector to the development of
our dear country, distinguished members of the
Senate Committee on Land transport keyed into
the laudable (Lagos to Calabar, rail modernisation)
project and found ways of appropriating funds for
the project without exceeding the envelope
provided for the ministry.
In so doing, the committee observed that the
Lagos to Kano rail rehabilitation project had been
allocated the sum of N52 Billion Naira as against
the sum of 60 billion which the Hon. Minister
requested as counterpart funding while no
allocation whatsoever was made for the Lagos to
Calabar rail line.
Hence, the sum of 54 billion Naira that was
discovered by the Senate Committee on Land
Transport to be floating in the budget of the
Ministry of Transportation as presented by the
Executive was injected into augmenting the funds
needed for counterpart funding of both projects
(Lagos to Kano and Lagos to Calabar Rail
modernisation), as at the time the committee
defended its report before the senate committee
on Appropriation. The Lagos to Calabar rail
modernisation project was therefore included in
the Senate Committee on Land Transports
recommendation to the Senate Committee on
Appropriations.
With regard to the Idu to Kaduna rail completion,
the Senate Committee on Land Transport did not
interfere with what was provided for in the budget
as sent by the executive, being approximately 18
Billion Naira hence I am equally surprised to read
on the pages of the newspapers that the amount
allocated to the said project was reduced by 8
Billion Naira.
While I would have preferred to wait till Tuesday
April 12th 2016 when the National Assembly
reconvenes in order to have the benefit of viewing
the details of the budget that was conveyed to the
executive as passed, I am compelled to place the
facts in proper perspective as it relates to the
activities of the Senate Committee on Land
Transport.
Without prejudice to the considerations and
powers of the Senate Committee on
Appropriations with regard to the appropriations
process, the foregoing is the true reflection of
what transpired at the committee level with
respect to the Land Transport sector of the
Ministry of Transport.
Senator Gbenga Ashafa (Lagos East)
Senate Committee on Land Transport.


saharareporters.com/2016/04/11/federal-government-included-and-defended-inclusion-lagos-calabar-rail-2016-budget-senate

dustydee:

Oga, this video is not for budget defence.

Tokety7:

LadyExcellency:


Can't the honourable Senator post the version of the budget he has online for Nigerians to read themselves?

Is there any secret addition that wasn't captured in the amended version posted online?

Tokety7:


He can but chooses not to afterall he isn't bound to do so. He is an authority on the subject and has spoken. Am certain ur unbelief doesn't in anyway invalidate the fact he spoke out.

LadyExcellency:


Nonsense, how can he claim an authority on a public document without proof?

Nigerians are not mumu, if he can't cite the reference then he is a liar. The burden of proof is on him and can only be confirmed from the revised version of the budget resubmitted by Udom, the special assistant to Mr President on Assembly matters and not a piece of paper Amaechi came with during budget defense.