2021 budget: Poor funding threatens Niger Delta Development ― Akpabio

President Mohammadu Buhari’s vision and mandate for the development of the Niger Delta has been threatened by the paucity of funds allocated to the Niger Delta Ministry.

This concern was raised on Tuesday during the budget defence session by the Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who said the good plans of the President would be seriously hampered by the low funding of the Ministry.

Akpabio while lamenting that the limited resources allocated to the Ministry coupled with low releases, solicited the understanding and support of the Senate Committee on Niger Delta to increase the allocation so that the Ministry can address the issues of uncompleted projects in the region.

According to Akpabio, the total sum of N26,592,5609, 004, 00 proposed for the Ministry of Niger Delta for 2021″is considered meagre and significantly inadequate in the face of the mandate and goals of the Ministry to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the people of the Niger Delta region.”

Analysing the budget, he said “the capital estimate reveals that the sum of N15, 000,000,000 out of N19,533,720,033 for capital infrastructure project was allocated to the East-West Road (Sections I- IV) alone, on the order of Mr President. This leaves N4,533,720,033 for the other infrastructural projects.”

The Minister said the gross underfunding has led to the derailment of the programmes of engagement of youths and women of the region, reduced training for knowledge acquisition, poor performance and protracted delay in project delivery and intermittent disruption by youths who chase away contractors from sites.

Soliciting the assistance of the Committee, the minister said: “Mr Chairman, distinguished members, arising from the dwindling budgetary allocation and the increasing level of outstanding liabilities, we wish to solicit additional funding to enable the Ministry to deliver on Mr President’s mandate for the Niger Delta region.”

A total budgetary proposal of the sum of N26,592,560,040 was allocated to the Ministry comprising of N1,443,111,339 for Personnel, N877,089,120 for Overhead and N24,272,359,581 for Capital.

In the breakdown of the 2020 budget performance, by the minister said “a total sum of N23.45bn was approved as 2020 appropriation after the national budget was amended due to the effect of COVID -19 pandemic.

“The capital overheads and personnel expenditure budget were in the sum of N21.71bn, N600.1m and N1.14bn respectively. The releases in respect of capital, overheads and personnel expenditure were N10.86bn, N432.64m and N1.026bn, representing 50%, 72% and 99% respectively. The performance in terms of funds released us 10%, 86% and 99% for capital, overheads and personnel expenditure respectively.”

Akpabio was accompanied by the Minister of State in the ministry, Sen. Tayo Alasoadura and some directors in the ministry.

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