SAN FRANCISCO, February 11, (THEWILL) – Udoma Udo Udoma, Minister of Budget and National Planning has dismissed the ongoing controversies surrounding the discrepancies observed in the 2016 budget defence at the National Assembly as ‘non-issue’.
Udoma said such issues need not be over flogged, as they were normal issues expected to pulp up, just as he promised that those concerns raised would soon be sorted out, especially as they had engaged the lawmakers in talks.
“Sometimes issues are found and they are sorted out, it’s very routine thing and shouldn’t overplayed. It’s not an issue and we are discussing amicably with National Assembly to ensure things are sorted out,” he said.
The 2016 proposed budget, which has passed the second reading at the Senate and the House of Representatives, is beset by concerns on how figures, in the initial document sent in for appropriation, got distorted to the point that most representatives of the Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) are now complaining about discrepancies in what they presented and what was brought before the National Assembly for approval.
Minister of Niger Delta, Sani Uguru, for instance told the Senate Committee on Niger Delta on Tuesday that the the figures presented to the National Assembly representing the budget of the ministry were fraught with errors and contradictions.
While responding to a question on how some items were paddled into the budget by various ministries and agencies behind their ministers, Udoma, who refused to go into details, responded that issues being raised were normal, describing them as “routine things” that would soon be sorted out.
Members of the joint Session of the National Assembly at the ongoing debate on the budget also raised issues on why many of the allocations were either repeated several times or over-priced and these have made them to doubt the possibility of the budget being passed before the February 26th day set for it.
The two chambers said the N6.08trillion appropriation bill was fraught with inconsistencies and errors, pointing out that besides the padding discovered in the budget, which has made it unrealistic, the disagreement between the political and bureaucratic organs of the Executive arm of government had further complicated the matter.
Story by David Oputah
