Jarigbe’s Committee queries inconsistencies in Transport Ministry’s Budget
The Joint Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Marine Transport yesterday queried the inconsistencies in the 2020 budget of the Federal Ministry of Transportation presented to the Committee.
Deputy Chairman of the House Committee, Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe, questioned the reasons behind the inconsistent line items in the Ministry’s budget at its budget defence session.
He discovered that the Ministry of Transportation had budgeted a line item earmarked ERGP27192753 for construction of National Freight Office at Idiroko Ogun State, and queried the N4,00, 000.000.00 allocated in the budget for it.
The Chairman of the Committee also observed that most of the projects tagged on-going in the 2019 budget of the Ministry were never in existence before 2019 having perused through previous budgets.
He further queried the Ministry’s budget line item ERGP1111997 of the National Inland Waterways Authority NIWA for the acquisition of Barges and Vessels at N1,000,000.00 in the 2019 budget also captured as on-going but was not provided for in 2018 Appropriation Act.
Agom-Jarigbe observed that in the 2020 proposed budget by the Agency, the budget is N2.7 billion and also discovered the previous line item ERGP1114538 which is for procurement of Dredger and other related equipment/vessels which had been allocated N1.5 billion in the 2020 budget.
The Lawmaker called for a thorough investigation of the Ministry of Transportation’s budgeting process, insisting that it meant that someone sits somewhere and manufactures figures for the Ministry.
(Transport Day)
