The house of representatives says the executive
budgeted N12 billion for the 2nd Niger bridge project
in 2016, but that a kobo was not spent on it.

The house described as blackmail the statement of
Babatunde Fashola, minister of works, power and
housing, that the national assembly “imported”
projects into the 2017 budget.

The senate had earlier flayed the minister for his
statement, describing it as half-truth.

Fashola had accused the national assembly of altering
the budget and of making reductions to the budgetary
allocations of some projects.

In a statement issued by Abdulrazak Namdas,
spokesman of the lower legislative chamber, on
Saturday, the house explained that it reduced the
budgetary allocations of some projects for the sake of
prudence.

It said the executive budgeted N12 billion for the 2nd
Niger bridge in 2016, but that the money was not
spent on the project. It added that it had to reduce the
proposed fund for the project in the 2017 budget from
N12 billion to N 7 billion because it knew the money
would not be spent on it.

“Fashola claimed that the national assembly included
many projects that were not agreed on during the
budget defence before the committees; that the budget
Lagos-Ibadan expressway was reduced from N31
billion to N10 billion; that 2nd Niger Bridge budget was
reduced from N15 billion to N10 billion (actually N12
billion to N7 billion); that about N3 billion or so was
removed from Okene-Lokoja-Abuja road; that the
budget for Mambila power project was also cut,” the
statement read.

“He further claimed that some of the roads introduced
into the budget had no designs and that items like
primary healthcare and boreholes were introduced into
the budget of the ministry which are state matters. Mr
Fashola further said that the national assembly has no
powers to increase or tinker with the budget.

“We make the following clarifications in answer to the
obvious attempt to blackmail the national assembly,
paint it as an irresponsible institution not concerned
with the welfare of the people, and set the executive
and legislature on an unnecessary collision course on
matters of power rather than issues that benefit the
Nigerian people.

“To the specific issues raised, it is very misleading and
calculated mischief to simply say that N5 billion was
taken from the budget for 2nd Niger bridge. The truth
is that in the 2016 budget, N12 billion was
appropriated for the 2nd Niger bridge and not a kobo
was spent by the ministry. Not a kobo. The money
was returned. The ministry could not provide the
committees of the national assembly with evidence of
an agreement on the public private partnership (PPP)
or a contract for the 2nd Niger bridge.

“The national assembly, in its wisdom decided to fund
other projects from the south-east leaving N7 billion
for the 2nd Niger bridge that may yet be unspent. The
projects include – N2.5 billion extra for Enugu/Onitsha
eoad, N1 billion more for 9th Mile/Nsukka/Makurdi
road; additional N500m for Oturkpa- Makurdi to take
care of evacuation of agricultural produce up to
Maiduguri ; N1 billion more for Ikot Ekpene-Aba-Owerri
road etc. These are strategic roads in the south-east
and north central parts of Nigeria that had inadequate
allocations.

“The national assembly had to intervene to fund some
other critical roads that were totally neglected in the
executive budget proposal. Example is the Abuja-
Kaduna – Zaria – Kano road that had zero allocation
from the president’s proposal and no contract even in
spite of due process certification. N5 billion was
provided in the 2016 budget. It was not utilised. In
2017 budget, the national assembly again provided N3
billion for this very critical road that connects many
states and where incidents of kidnapping are rife
because of bad roads, as we believe that all parts of
Nigeria deserve attention or would the minister also
claim that this road has no design?

“On the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, leadership
meetings of both the executive and legislature were
held where it was clarified that alternative funding
exists for the road through PPP arrangement and the
concessionaires had enough money to fund the
project. That informed the decision to move some
funds to other areas of need and the minister of power,
works and housing is fully aware of this but chose to
ignore it. Why spend government money if there is a
clear existing funding framework in place and so many
ongoing road projects are unfunded?”

The house also said that Fashola proposed a
“whopping N17 billion for only environmental impact
assessment (EIA)” for the Mambila power project, but
that it felt that “N17 billion for EIA was misplaced and
patently unjustifiable”.

“On a general note, we need to remind the honourable
minister that the budget of the ministry of power,
works and housing is not his personal budget; it is
part of the budget of the federation,” it added.

TheCable