Re: On the mandate of Science and Technology ministry

The attention of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology has been drawn to an opinion article titled “On the mandate of Science and Technology Ministry” which appeared on page 17 in the Nigerian Tribune on Friday, October 20, 2017. The article in question written by one Professor Charles Adisa from Abia State raised a number of issues with regards to 2017 Capital Budget Appropriation of the Ministry. The writer alleged that the 28th item of the 36 listed items as projects to be executed by the Ministry is the fencing/interlocking of Id Mosque in Ajingi, Gaya and Albasu, all in Kano state at the cost of N120million naira. Arising from this, the writer raised other contentious issues but the crux is the ethical justification of a Ministry of Science and Technology appropriating such a huge sum for a project outside its mandate.

For the avoidance of doubt, the Ministry is constrained to respond to the issues raised by the writer as follows: (i) That the sum of One hundred and twenty million (N120, 000,000) naira only for fencing and interlocking of mosques in Kano was not in the 2017 Budget Proposal of the Ministry submitted to the National Assembly; ii. That the fencing/interlocking of a mosque or any religious building for that matter does not fall within the mandate of the Ministry; iii. The code “NBARR” under which the appropriation was inserted is the budget code of one of the agencies of the ministry-Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI). The mandate of the Institute is to conduct integrated research and development activities into the varied aspects of the building and construction Industries; iv.  The said item was never in NBBRI 2017 Budget proposal that was submitted to the National Assembly. (v) It must be emphasised that the item-mosque fencing project of N120million in Kano was neither placed on the Ministry’s 2017 Budget proposal nor defended by either the Honourable Minister of Science and Technology or the DG/CEO of NBRRI. In fact, both the Honourable Minister and the DG of NBRRI are not privy to the insertion of this item in the 2017 appropriation of NBRRI.

Upon realisation by the Ministry that this item (mosque fencing project) was erroneously inserted into its budget, she has sought clarifications from the relevant Committees of the National Assembly. The Ministry awaits the outcome of the National Assembly in this regard. Perhaps, it will interest Professor Adisa to know that the budget process is a highly complex one. A budget proposal undergoes some processes before it becomes a law. The process involves both executive and legislative action, that is, collection and coordination of estimates from various MDAs by the Budget office of the Federation. Thereafter, it will be presented to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for approval before presentation by Mr. President to the National Assembly. Subsequently, the Budget Proposal is defended by MDAs before the various Committees of the National Assembly and eventually passed into law.

However, it suffices to say that the entire staff of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, (FMST) aligns itself with the zero tolerance for corruption of this present administration and will not promote acts contrary to the principles of accountability, transparency and good governance. These are the hallmarks of the Buhari administration. The FMST will like to assure the public that it is still committed to its mandate of facilitating the development and deployment of Science and Technology to enhance the pace of socio-economic development of the country. This informed the roadmap recently launched by the Honourable Minister of Science and Technology to drive the technology sector as a platform for the socio-economic development of Nigeria.

The FMST is working assiduously to ensure that Nigeria promotes local content, encourages indigenous technology capacity, drastically reduces capital flight, strengthens local manpower development, enhances global competitiveness and restores the national pride. Apart from helping Nigeria bridge existing technology gaps, the new national road map is expected to help fast-track the process that will enable Nigeria become self-reliant in indigenous technology capacity. These and other tasks or initiatives are the preoccupation of the Ministry in the drive to make Science and Technology take its rightful place in Nigeria’s developmental agenda.

Aminu is the Deputy Director (Press & Public Relations), Federal Ministry of Science and Technology