₦airaland Forum

http://www.titopeblog.com/2017/07/fashola-vs-nass-why-we-rejected-n20bn.html



Abdulrazak Namdas, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs has spoken over alleged ‘ghost allocations’ by Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.

He insisted that Fashola’s N20 billion contingency fund was questionable and that it was rejected by the National Assembly because the figure was too high.

“When the minister was asked about the N20 billion allocations, he did not deny it. He simply explained that it was for the purpose of planning. My quarrel is that even if you have a contingency plan, N20 billion is a huge amount”, he told Sun.

“The Second Niger Bridge alone has a budget estimate of about N12 billion, why would anybody have N20 billion for contingency? If every ministry in the country will have N20 billion for contingency alone, then the budget of the country will be exhausted on contingencies.



“Then he has the issue of N17 billion for Economic Impact Assessment (EIA) for Mambilla plateau power project. N17 billion not million, it is too much. There is nothing personal here; it is just injustice to the budget itself to have those amounts approved.We have made valid observations to Fashola’s presentation and he agreed to them.

“He should be humble enough to admit it instead of trying to paint the National Assembly black in the eyes of the public. Tomorrow, he might find himself in the National Assembly and the negative image he has been trying to create for the lawmakers might become his.

“We have introduced for the first time, public hearings for the purpose of allowing members of the public to have inputs into the budget. People come to give us their opinion about the budget, we deserve some credit”.

ok

Fashola carrry his lagos chop chop style go federal ...

This NASS don't know what's in store for them.

Threatening the Media machinery of the most photogenic Governor in Nigeria.

You shot down N20B contingency and you want media not to curse, vilify and denigrate you?

Where do you think their pay is coming from?

You're playing with their money, you don't know, siddon dia dey form House of Representatives

Am with NASS on this. #20b as petty cash is a no no.

Is it contingency for ALL the capital projects

Is this actual money spent


What about all the hundreds of borehole you included in the budget.


At least there is a standard contingency rate, approve that one and let us hear word.

On the budget for Mambila Power Project, which was slashed because it contained a whopping N17 billion for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the minister said that there was indeed a “mis-description’’ of the expenditure.

According to him, what was described as a Budget Head for EIA was actually the nation’s counterpart funding to the China- EXIM loan to fund the building of the project.

He said that the information on the budget for Mambilla project was brought to his attention only after it had been slashed.

On the issue of the N20 Billion provision in the Ministry’s Budget which the Spokesperson alleged that the Minister failed to give details of, Fashola said the Spokesperson is hiding behind a finger.

The Minister explained that it was a very basic principle of good planning to make provision for unforeseen contingencies adding that in the 2016 Budget , a similar provision enabled the Ministry to respond to the failures of the Tamburawa Bridge in Sokoto, the Ijora Bridge in Lagos and the Gada Hudu Bridge in Koto Karfe along the Abuja – Lokoja Highway. Similarly, the Ministry was able to pay N1BN to the Contractor handling the Suleja to Minna road.

The recent failures caused by flooding along Tegina-Mokwa-Jebba road and Tatabu in Niger State could not have been provided because they were not foreseen and there may be more. “ This is what good planning is about ,“ Fashola said.

Noting that the Senate Spokesperson missed the point in the haste to cast aspersions on him because he was not at the meetings he was speaking about, Fashola said he would have expected a more sober approach to the matter. “ In any event, allegations of half truth is only a flawed response to the constitutional and developmental issues that have plagued Nigeria from 1999 about how to budget for the critical infrastructure in Nigeria.

Do this folks realise Fashola is in charge of 3 ministries and the contingency I believe is for his 3 ministries.

Do they realise that the 20billion voted for this is not an actual cash and may end up not being used at all if the need doesnt arise?

They are now more concerned about talking about the 20 billion naira vote without mentioning the other capital projects they reduced for borehole, town hall projects.

What then is the need for state and local government if the FG includes in its budget plans for boreholes and town halls in rural communities?

I really want Fashola to go engage the Reps and school them.

aolawale025:
Am with NASS on this. #20b as petty cash is a no no.

You can see that the NASS has achieved their aim by successfully misleading you

The 20billion is not an actual cash. In fact, budget is not a cash. You need to go read up some more on how budget works and not allow this half baked legislooters to deceive you.