Abdul-Rahman Abubakar
18 June 2008
Abuja — The Senate yesterday rejected for the second time , the report of its joint committee on Appropriation and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) which hiked the FCT 2008 budget from the N69 billion proposed by the executive to N73.9 billion.
Sequel to the presentation made by the joint committee's Chairman, Senator Iyiola Omisore, and the clause to clause consideration of the report, Senate Majority Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin (PDP, Oyo), moved for the suspension of the debate to allow the committee time to provide more details on the budget, while Senate President, David Mark, ruled that the Senate would not consider any budget report without full details .During the clause by clause consideration of the report, senators had noted inconsistencies in allocations to various departments and sectors under the FCT Administration (FCTA) and resolved to suspend the process. Senator Nimi Barigha Amange (PDP, Bayelsa) requested details of N1.9 billion provided as capital expenditure for the FCTA out of which N400 million was earmarked for office of the administrator, saying there was need for further explanations by the committee.
Senator Amange said the committee needs to give details of N400 million projects to be executed by the administrator's office.Speaking on the matter, Senator Bassey Ewa Henshaw (PDP, Cross River) called on the joint committee to do a thorough work on the budget saying, "The Constitution and the Senate rules prescribe the presentation of a detailed budget.The National Assembly has in the past been passing summarised versions of budgets in error. The practice does not instill accountability and transparency in the management of the nation's resources."
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