₦airaland Forum

LadyExcellency:
The power of the purse bestowed on the Legislators provides accountability mechanisms to checkmate the recklessness and excesses of the Executive arm of the government

TonyeBarcanista:
2. The oversight committee recommends projects to the Appropriation committee, the Appropriation Committee cost the project and propose them to the House, the house makes the final decision.

PassingShot:
It's very clear that the NASS is a common enemy.

agabaI23:
I dey laugh

I invited you somewhere but I did not see you...

................However, more information was brought to light monday on what transpired with respect to the Calabar-Lagos rail project, when a senior official in the presidency disclosed that its omission from the budget was caused by the Budget Office.

This came as the Chairman on the Senate Committee on Land Transport, Senator Gbenga Ashafa confirmed yesterday in a press statement that Amaechi did inform the committee of the omission of the Lagos-Calabar rail project and sent a supplementary copy of the ministry’s budget to the committee, which contained the said project.
Speaking with THISDAY in Abuja on Monday, the presidency source, who pleaded anonymity, said when the error committed by the Budget Office was discovered, Ameachi quickly forwarded a memo to the Budget Office, drawing its attention to the error and it was quickly corrected.

The source added: “Minister Ameachi did not stop there, he followed it up with several meetings with Senator Gbenga Ashafa and during the defence of the budget, Amaechi informed the committee of the omission of the Lagos-Calabar rail modernisation project and indeed sent a supplementary copy of the ministry’s budget to the committee, which contained the said project.

“I can tell you that it was the House of Representatives that removed it for obvious reasons. The ministry was harassed by the House members during the defence of the budget, demanding for one thing or the other. If Hon. Abdulmumim said the Lagos-Calabar Rail project was not in the original budget, let him also show you where N92 billion was provided for the Lagos-Kano rail project in the original budget that he is making reference to?
“On the rehabilitation of some airports, the Ministry of Transportation did make provision for them in the budget we submitted, and the National Assembly on its own appropriated N4 billion to this. They are just lying. And we challenged them to produce the report the Senate Committee on Land Transport sent to the Ministry of Transportation.”

Senator Ashafa also confirmed that Amaechi did inform the committee of the omission of the Lagos-Calabar rail project and the omission was subsequently corrected.

According to the senator, “I have carefully followed the news making the rounds in relation to the budget presented to the National Assembly and what was defended by the Ministry of Transportation before the Senate Committee on Land Transport which I have the privilege of chairing.

“The focal point of controversy seems to be the Lagos-Calabar railway modernisation project and the completion of the Idu-Kaduna rail line.

“I confirm that the Lagos-Calabar rail line was not in the original document that was presented to the National Assembly by the executive.

“However, subsequently, during the budget defence session before the Senate Committee on Land Transport, the Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, did inform the committee of the omission of the Lagos-Calabar rail project and indeed sent a supplementary copy of the ministry’s budget to the committee which contained the said project.”

The senator added that the minister had noted during the defence of the budget 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 N120 billion, being N60 billion per project.

Senator Ashafa said 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 the country, members of the Senate Committee on Land Transport keyed into the laudable (Lagos-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-Kano rail rehabilitation project had been allocated the sum of N52 billion as against the sum of N60 billion, which the minister requested as counterpart funding while no allocation whatsoever was made for the Lagos-Calabar rail line,” the Senator further stated.

“Hence, the sum of N54 billion 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-Kano and Lagos-Calabar Rail modernisation), as at the time the committee defended its report before the Senate Committee on Appropriation,” he said.

He stated that the Lagos-Calabar rail modernisation project was therefore included in the Senate Committee on Land Transport’s recommendation to the Senate Committee on Appropriation.

On the Idu-Kaduna rail completion project, Senator Ashafa said his committee did not alter what was provided in the budget as sent by the executive, being approximately N18 billion, adding that he was equally surprised to read in newspapers that the amount allocated to the said project was reduced by N8 billion.

He said while he would have preferred to wait till next Tuesday, 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, he was compelled to place the facts in a proper perspective as it relates to the activities of his committee.

“Without prejudice to the considerations and powers of the Senate Committee on Appropriation with regard to the appropriation process, the foregoing is the true reflection of what transpired at the committee level with respect to the Land Transport sector with the Ministry of Transport,” he further stated..........................

Donnetimmy:
Is he a public officer?

bigfido:
Congratulations adycatus on your successful entry.

Where is that man that said "there's nothing wrong with Chicago POE, just be truthful and have your return ticket" again?

People that are experts in changing the date on return ticket from future to immediate present.

Adycatus, did you see any officer in the secondary inspection room with "houston cbp in training" tag? Houston dey learn work for there.

TippyTop:
Aunt stop laying all the blame at the feet of others. Amaechi hoofed no matter how one looks at it.
Amaechi included Kano but conveniently forgot the Lagos to Calabar, abeg.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!

TippyTop:
Can't watch the video now but Amaechi the minister for transport is from south south, why didn't it occur to him to add it with the main budget?
The main budget was taken to NASS with over 50bil unallocated, NASS had no option than to add the money somewhere else.

Does that sound plausible to you,? Even YOU oo

zimoni:
Thank you for providing this important evidence.

May Sango punish the Useless Southern Senators who looked the other way when the project was expunged. North approved theirs but we don't care about ours.

Some Southern political leaders are pathetic.

The Project is important and must be included. I support Uncle Bubu on this. Nice One GrandPa.

Goodluck Jonathan demanded for a corporate account from Metuh which some amount was paid into.

“I’m aware as a journalist that funding of publicity comes from the leader of the party mainly.”

How was it appropriated for in the National Budget?

He said the general election was coming and the lack of fund in his department will soon be a thing of the past as the leader of the party will have no choice but to fund the party.

“In a bid to repackage the image of PDP, Metuh informed me that he would be engaging the services of a consultancy firm called CNC connect and together we made presentation to Jonathan.

One afternoon he told us that work will now start that the president said he should check his bank account that some money had been disbursed for the job.”

seeking for more time and facilities to enable him prepare for defence.

TheGoodJoe:
Wait a minute. So our South - South Senators, opened their eyes and watched Amaechi defend the rail projects and they did not bother to ask what happened that such project left the budget.

I will not blame Sen. Ben Bruce because he was tweeting when Amaechi was talking. What is the excuse of the others?

francizy:
Where is Mo, you will never see her on these kinds of thread...

cutienik:
@mumi babythug,mum moda.th,mumi soonest nd mumi lovinam...thank u so much mamas..may dis wk favor yall.am grateful.

rudebouy:
Well in a way ur right. But dis is not so good news to me. Becos it reveals dat Nigeria is really not producing anything in dis country. We do not only assemble cars, we also assemble other products in Nigeria. When u have to import raw materials for your products, then ur more into assembling of ur products than full scale production.

Thank God for slump in oil price oh. It just showed how reckless we are as a country. Damn!

francizy:


No oh! Shebi according to y'all, the "all-knowing" Buhari is on the right track, restricting forex for businesses? They shouldn't have eased up a bit na, they should have continued so that all the companies in Nigeria collapses. Mstewwwww!

Seems like Emefiele read thru my thread or don't you think so my lovely love?...

Caseless:
I know those in the 'shallow' chamber are the ones lying.
Since the day they told us the budget got missing, I knew there'd be foul-play.
I trust Ameachi to come out with evidence very soon.

Rep Oghene Egoh, PDP, Lagos, said the removal of the the Lagos-Calabar rail line was wicked and uncharitable if it is true because “we provided for both Kano and Lagos rail lines in the budget but I’m shocked that Lagos that is the business hub in Nigeria was removed. To me, we must probe deep into why it was removed must probe deep into why it was removed

No be everybody be regional saboteurs nah!

wolfslair:
Riddle for you:
This five letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it.

What is the word?

agabaI23:
How about Kogi Yoruba?

Pidggin:
Buharinomics policies are failing, hence HE has to soften his stance.

“We are happy that at least CBN is sensitive to our needs now even though they are not able to give us 100 per cent access pending the time when the forex improves, and when the price of oil goes up and foreign reserve improves.

Montaque:
the tweet didnt show it wasnt in the budget originally. what he meant was that unused money in the budget was allocated to those project ie. they increased its allocation.

I met with MAN members and conveyed the message that their requests are being attended to and they are happy that although that is not exactly what they want but that they are happy that something is happening. I am very happy about where we are today and we hope the CBN will sustain this.

He disclosed that in order to cut down on dependence on imported raw materials for production, MAN is in discussion with the Raw Materials Research and Development Council, RMRDC.