Politics

Reps extend 2023 capital, supplementary budget to March 2024

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1 year ago

The House of Representatives, on Thursday, passed a bill for the extension of the capital component of the 2023 Appropriation Act to 31st March, 2024.

In the same vein, the House also amended the Supplementary Appropriation Act by extending its implementation to 31st March, 2024.

The bill seeks to amend the Supplementary Appropriation Act, 2022 (Amendment) Bill, 2023.

Speaking on the synopsis of the report, Majority Leader, Hon. Julius Ihonvbere stated that the bill seeks to amend the Appropriation Act to extend its validity from December 31st, 2023 to March 2024 to enable government work within the legal provisions of the law for the expense of governance, infrastructural development on behalf of the Nigerian people.

During the Committee of Supply, the lawmakers voted and Clauses 1 to 3 of the reports.

Also at plenary, the lawmakers unanimously resolved to investigate the utilization of financial interventions in the Nigerian Solid Mineral Sector as well as allegations bothering on diversion of over N1.2 trillion from the fund under previous administrations.

The resolution was passed sequel to the adoption of a motion sponsored by Hon. Awaji-Inombek Abiante who acknowledged the establishment of National Resources Development Fund which was established in 2002 to diversify resources and reduce petroleum reliance, using revenue sources such as excess crude oil allocation, exchange gain, non-oil revenue, contractual obligations, and refunds.

In his lead debate, Hon Abiante noted that “between 2002 and the present, trillions of naira have been deposited into the fund, but the actual allocation for the solid minerals sector remains unclear.

“The House is concerned that the financial records from 2007 to 2011 reveal a misappropriation of N365 billion in fund allocations. Furthermore, the audit report indicates that the fund proceeds were utilized as a borrowing purse by the Federal Government from 2012 to 2016.

“The House is cognizant that in the last quarter of 2016, $30 million intervention fund was approved from the fund and released for the facilitation of exploration operations and the formalization of Artisanal Miners.

“The House is aware that in 2019, the Presidency directed the Federal Ministry of Finance to allocate funds to the Solid Minerals Development Fund to manage the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative to formalize and institutionalize the artisanal gold mining industry.

“The House is also aware that in 2017, the World Bank-assisted Mineral Sector for Economic Development Project (MINDIVER), under the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, gave the country solid mineral sector a facility of 150 million dollars to enhance the mining sector contribution to the Nigerian economy.

“The House observes that in July 2020, the Federal Ministry of Finance disclosed to the public a credit balance of N131.59 billion in the fund, but between 2007 to 2020, records of its contributions to the solid minerals sector remain unclear.

“The House is disturbed that in 2019, an audit report revealed that the Nigerian government allegedly diverted a substantial amount of N903.63 billion allocated to the fund in 10 years, from 2007 to 2011 and 2012 to 2016.

“The House recognizes that the 8th House of Representatives mandated an Ad-hoc Committee to investigate the alleged diversion of N350 billion in Natural Resources Funds to areas outside its core mandate and to ascertain the status of utilization.

“The House is worried that the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) stated in its 2019 audit report that the Federal Government continues to exploit the growth of the fund through misappropriation, despite regular inquiries by the National Assembly. This underscores the need to ascertain the present credit balance of the fund, the proportion of interventions from the fund to the solid minerals sector of the economy and its utilization status,” he noted.

To this end, the House mandated the Committee on Solid Minerals Development to investigate the Natural Resources Development Fund, and the utilization of all financial interventions from 2013–2023 and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.

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