Senate cautions against selective budget execution
FORMER People's Democratic Party (PDP) Board Chairman and ex-Works Minister, Chief Tony Anenih, was on Monday invited by the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives to answer some questions on a N2.3 billion road contract which was awarded in 2001 and abandoned.
Meanwhile, President of the Senate, David Mark, has flayed heads of Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) over non-commitment to budgetary implementation, warning that the lawmakers would no longer condone cases of selective implementation of budgets.
Anenih is to appear before the committee along with the contractor, Messrs Torno Internazionale Nigeria Limited, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works as at the time the contract was awarded and the Federal Road Comptroller of Works in Nasarawa State.
Their invitation was sequel to deliberations on the report of the Auditor General of the Federation on the activities of the Federal Ministry of Works.
The contract which was for the reconstruction of a road in Nasarawa State was awarded in September 2001 to a contractor with a completion date of April 18, 2003. However, it was observed during inspection of the project site in 2004 that the project was abandoned.
The Auditor General's Report said the contractor executed only 19 per cent of the job but was paid far in excess of the work done and no attempt was made to recover the N552million paid to the contractor as mobilisation fee.
Mark, while addressing the Minister of Agriculture, Akinwunmi Adesina, at the 2013 budget defence, Monday noted that irrespective of the budgetary stipulations, heads of MDAs have remained in the habit of choosing the aspect of the budget to implement while others are left at their discretion.
He expressed worries over constituency projects which he said were not given priority attention by the minister. He doubted the possibility of effectively executing projects, the contracts of which were awarded only a few weeks to the end of 2012 fiscal year.
"You did not give constituency project any priority. You left it till now. How much works can the contractor do between now and the end of the year? People are not concerned about implementation. That is not a correct attitude to budget. Once a budget is signed, it becomes law and it is binding on all of us."
Mark also demanded to know the level of success recorded in the Electronic Wallet approach to fertiliser distribution across the country.
"Statistics given by percentage never gives any real figure or perception or what is practically on ground. I want to know how much fertilizers and seedlings went to the farmers directly through the new method you introduced.
In his response, the Minister noted that about 1.2 million farmers got fertilizers through the newly introduced electronic wallet method. He added that 90 per cent of this figure came from the northern part of the country.
"In Gombe State, 157,000 people registered for fertiliser but 110,000 of them received the product, In Kaduna, 220,000 registered but 120,218 collected fertilisers through their phones. In Kano, 279,000 registered while 189,000 received, 65,000 collected in Sokoto State while 100,000 farmers received in Jigawa State."
Speaking on 2012 budget performance, the Minister said about 75 per cent of the released budget has been implemented.
"A total amount of N43.9billion was appropriated to us comprising personnel allocation of N7.4 billion, N208million Overhead and Capital budget of N36.3billion. Out of these figures, only N5.2 billion has been received on Personnel, N178million on Overhead and N18billion on Capital. So, out of total budget of N43.9billion, we have received a total of N23.4 billion and utilised N19.5billion."
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Emmanuel Bwacha, however urged the minister to appraise the success of the Electronic Wallet to ensure improvements are made where necessary.
