THE Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Thursday opposed additional N9 billion expenditure on Vice President Namadi Sambo's official residence, which is under construction.
Chairman of the Committee, Smart Adeyemi, who spoke while on oversight visit to the project site, said such a huge amount of money was uncalled for, especially at a time when most Nigerians are under harsh economic condition.
The Executive Secretary, Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Adamu Ismail, had earlier told the lawmakers that the project was awarded in 2009 at the cost of N7billion.
He added that the proposed augmentation of the contract cost was necessary to provide furniture, fencing, two additional protocol guest houses, a banquet hall as well as security gadgets.
According to him, the new proposal was not included in the original scope of work being handled by Julius Berger Nigeria Limited.
In his response, Adeyemi said the National Assembly would not appropriate additional N9 billion for the project. "The N9 billion is far more than the original cost of the project."
Vice Chairman of the Committee, Domingo Obende, however, asked the Executive Secretary to submit the additional scope of work for which the fund is required to the panel for proper scrutiny.
According to Ismail, the proposed N9 billion has been slashed to about N6 billion by the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP). "We have worked out the details and passed to BPP for consideration and they have sent it back to us with their observation. We requested for N9 billion but now it came to about N6 billion," he said.
For Adeyemi still, the sum of N14 billion was indefensible in view of the current economic realities in the country.
His words: "Now you are asking us to approve a total sum of about N14 billion and this is just the Vice President's residence. To me N14 billion is huge for the Vice President's house. If you are even talking of N10 billion, that would be understandable. The reality is that N14 billion is indefensible and that is our submission.
"In Nigeria, there are still many people with empty stomach. So we have to look at budgeting in relation to the needs of the people."
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Finance, Yerima Ngama and Commissioners of Finance from across the country have appeared before the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Loans and Debt to defend the external loan of $7,905.69 billion.
The Medium-Term External Borrowing Plan (Revised) stretches between 2012 and 2014. Both the $1 billion proposed for the continuation of Federal Government Eurobond Issuance and $0.1 billion for Diaspora Bond are to be implemented by the Federal Government.
President Goodluck Jonathan had recently sent a letter to the Senate, seeking its approval to borrow $7.9 billion for 2012 and 2014 pipeline projects. The request was consequently referred to the Committee on Local and Foreign Debt for further legislative consultations.
Although the committee is yet to submit its report, its Chairman, Higie Ozamere, said the meeting with the Minister of State for Finance and Commissioners would give further clarification to specific projects under the pipeline projects, amount allocated to each state as well as projects reserved for the Federal Government.
The chairman, however, frowned that in spite of the importance of the exercise, most commissioners failed to appear before the committee. He therefore urged the Minister of Finance to liaise with his colleagues across the federation to ensure they appear on or before Monday, December 11, to enable the committee finalise its report on the 2013 appropriation as stipulated by the Senate.
