House of Representatives has frowned at the poor performance of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs in the 2018 fiscal year and urged the Federal Government to be realistic with national budget
The House through its Committee on Niger Delta Affairs expressed displeasure over the numerous uncompleted projects the region including houses and hospitals that are seen across the nine states of the oil rich zone.
Etuk Ekpeyong, Chairman of the Committee gave this indication Thursday during a session of 2019 budget defence by the Ministry of the Niger Delta at the National Assembly complex, Abuja.
According to Ekpeyong, “there are so many uncompleted projects littered around the Niger Delta region. I want to draw the attention of the Ministry that this session is drawing to a close and the Ministry has to commission some of these projects.
“Why has the Ministry refused to allocate the houses? The level of waste in government is terrible. Houses have been completed but not allocated. It is like this all over the 9 states in the Niger Delta and there is no step in 2019 to show the Ministry’s will to allocate those projects. We should not allow these investments to be wasted.”
Istafanus Gyang, a Member of the Committee in his deliberation, accused the Ministry of under performance in 2018, saying that the Federal Government should be realistic with national budget.
“The Ministry didn’t perform well in 2018. Niger Delta region has many intervention agencies but has not reflected that in bringing about the desired development of the region. The Federal Government should be realistic with national budget”, Gyang said.
Responding, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry assured that the issues would be soon.
“The Ministry is worried about the housing scheme and working on resolving the matter as it concerns allocations of the houses. It was because of the elections that the allocation was halted. But we will start any moment from now to allocate them. The bushes have been cleared. The houses have been numbered. In the next three weeks, considerable action will be taken”, he said.
Useni Useni, Minister of Niger Delta while presenting the 2019 budget profile, said the entire envelope was N46 billion out of which N24 billion was projected for the East-West road whereas, N914.7 million was for agriculture.
Useni said, the sum of N1.092 billion was budgeted for electricity projects, N980.9 million was for building of schools in the area, water facilities took N970.7 million and N349.025 million earmarked for for hospital and clinics while erosion control gulps 4.5 billion.
He announced that only 17 new projects were introduced in 2019 budget, appealing that the budgeting process needed to be reviewed.
“Projects in 2017 were rolled over in 2018 and in 2019. We are concentrating on the ongoing projects. Only 17 news projects were initiated in 2019 budget.
“I agree perfectly that the budgeting process deserves a review because for now, it appears budgeting is like a discussion”, he said.
Responding to the issues raised by the Committee, Aminu Bisalla, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry assured that they would be soon tackled.
“The Ministry is worried about the housing scheme and is working on resolving the matter as it concerns allocations of the houses. It was because of the elections that the allocation was halted.
“But we will start any moment from now to allocate them. The bushes have been cleared. The houses have been numbered. In the next three weeks, considerable action will be taken”, he said.
