By Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun and his Budget and Economic Planning counterpart, Senator Atiku Bagudu, again appeared before the Senate Committee on Appropriations, yesterday, where the lawmakers sought to know the status of monies accrued from fuel subsidy removal.
The issue was raised by Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central) who asked the minister to explain how proceeds from fuel subsidy removal were expended and how much was spent on debt servicing in the 2024 fiscal year.
“What is the budget performance achieved so far for 2024 fiscal year, particularly in terms of the capital expenditure? We haven’t heard from the Minister about how much has been saved from the removal of fuel subsidy and how much has been expended.
“We also haven’t heard from the Ministers about the debt servicing. How much have we actually used to service our debt in 2004? How much are we expecting to service the debt in 2025? Finally, will the Minister of Finance guarantee that the extension of the capital component of the 2024 budget to June 30, 2025 will give the desired results in terms of implementation that has a very low percentage now?’’
Reacting, Mr Edun requested that the committee should enter into a closed door session, saying, “If we are not in a closed door session, I will humbly seek for that for detailed explanations on the questions asked.’’
Sequel to his request, Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Solomon Olamilekan (APC, Ogun West ), asked journalists to take their leave for the rest of the session.
Earlier, the Senate Committee on Information and National Orientation (NOA) chaired by Kenneth Eze (APC, Ebonyi Central), had budget defence sessions with the Director Generals of National Orientation Agency (NOA) and the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mallam Issa Onilu and Ali Mohammed Ali, respectively.
Dissatisfied with their presentations, the duo were directed to re-draft and represent their budgetary proposals for 2025 fiscal year on another date.
For NOA, the lawmakers were not impressed by the National Identity Project being implemented, saying it was not reaching the majority of Nigerians, especially those at the grassroots.
But Issa-Onilu put up a stout defence as he focused on the importance of the project, which he stressed was necessary to put the right value system in place, galvanise Nigerians for nation building, national development and growth.
However, the committee insisted that he should re-draft the programmes of the agency for the 2025 fiscal year.
Similarly, the Director General of NAN was told to go back and reconcile figures presented in the 2024 budget implementation before coming for appropriation of projected figures for 2025 fiscal year.